The people who depend on the Salvation Army Food Pantry had some bad news this week. The pantry was flooded early in the week and workers could not get to the shelves to retrieve food for the pantry’s clients.
Fortunately, there were food donations that had not been taken down to the pantry and were available to people who came in Wednesday and Thursday.
The flooding could have been worse. A pantry representative told The Gazette that the only food lost in the flood was some potato chips. But the flooding did point up a problem: One of the reasons the pantry lost so little food is that it had little food to lose.
The representative said the pantry is completely out of many staples, including canned corn, carrots, potatoes, peas, beets, spinach, tomatoes, beans, cream soups, peanut butter, powdered milk, vegetable juices, sugar and cooking oil. The supply of pasta, dried beans and flour is very low.
The pantry sounds a bit like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.
Why is the pantry so low on food? Well, it’s that time of year. Summer, when people are out of town and many organizations have stopped meeting until fall, is not the best time to collect donations. On top of that, demand is up for the pantry’s help.
So far this year, the pantry has given out 600 more bags of groceries than it had by this time last year.
The clients of the pantry cannot wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas for the gift of food. They need it today and every day.
There are food-collection baskets in the supermarkets around town or donations can be left at the pantry, 327 Constitution St.
The flood is over. It is time to stock the shelves.