On Thursday, an hour before doors opened at the St. Vincent de Paul Pantry, a line formed outside the entrance.
For whatever reason - layoffs, a slowing economy - the need has increased, said Joe McMann, St. Vincent de Paul Pantry volunteer. Also, donations have dropped off.
The Food for Families food drive, set for 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridayon the Scott & White parking lot will help local food banks meet the increased needs.
Trucks also will be set up at the H-E-Bs on 31st Street and Adams.
This year, food and money collected in Temple will be distributed among seven pantries - The Love of Christ Pantry, Churches Touching Lives Through Christ Pantry, St. Vincent de Paul Pantry, Salvation Army Pantry, Taylor Valley Baptist Church Pantry, Children’s Protective Services Rainbow Room and Open Arms Pantry.
Last year, 27,000 pounds of food and $16,822 in cash was collected in Temple during the Food for Families food drive.
In the past four years, the average number of clients served in a month at St. Vincent de Paul Pantry has grown from 447 to 1,090, said Joe McMann, pantry volunteer.
The number of households served increased, as well as the number of people in those households, he said.
In October, St. Vincent de Paul Pantry cut back operations from two days a week to one.
“We had to limit the number of people we could help and the days we were open because we’re just running out of funds,” McMann said. “We take 50 to 60 families … that’s about all we can handle.”
The pantry is averaging about 75 new families a month, he said.
Some of the pantries offer financial aid. St. Vincent de Paul helps with rent and utilities and Churches Touching Lives Through Christ helps with utilities.
“You always err on the side of trust,” McMann said. “You know some people abuse the system and they’ll eventually answer to a higher power.”
During most of the year St. Vincent de Paul relies on the three Catholic churches in Temple for its donations.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the worst yet, but we’ve seen enough to where we’ve had to slow down on our operations,” McMann said.
In addition to serving local residents, St. Vincent de Paul has clients coming in from Cameron, Rosebud-Lott, Salado and Killeen.
“We’re dependent on events like Food for Families, he said. “I think the drive is going to be vital for all of the pantries this year in order to get through the holidays and into next year.”
Cynthia Russell, volunteer director of Churches Touching Lives Through Christ Pantry, said the number of families seeking help each week has increased from about 60 to 90 families.
Churches Touching Lives Through Christ has a database with about 11,000 names.
Individuals who haven’t sought help since 1995, 1998 or 2000 are returning to the pantry, Ms. Russell said. Also, there are usually 10 new people seeking assistance each week.
A misconception of many is that the food pantries distribute is free, and it’s not, Ms. Russell said.
“We spend about $1,000 a week on food,” she said.
The pantry is reliant on donations from member churches, individuals and organizations, Ms. Russell said.
All the food pantries are hurting, she said, and most are reducing services.
“It’s not going to get better,” Ms. Russell said.
Churches Touching Lives Through Christ, which serves East Bell County, will stop serving Belton clients starting in December, since Helping Hands serves that community, she said.
Financially, Churches Touching Lives Through Christ is operating barely in the black for the year, Ms. Russell said. The last three months have ended in the red.
When things got really bad this year, Ms. Russell said the food pantry returned to its roots and went back to its church sponsors and asked each church to be responsible for one food item.
One church was asked to donate peanut butter for a year, another was asked to give pinto beans, she said. The donations don’t completely meet the need for those particular items, but it has been a great help.
