By Beverly Ferry | 11.20.2018
In Wabash, Indiana, the senior center is fully engaged in the
war to end local hunger. Living Well Winchester Center’s food distribution is
our senior center’s largest civic engagement program led by self-directed teams
of volunteers.
Together, we fight the war on five fronts.
- The
center’s pantry, the Community Cupboard, is part of the network of
community pantries affiliated with Feeding America. It is an income based,
client choice pantry for all ages providing Emergency Food Assistance
Program (TEFAP) commodities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA). Eligibility is based on income guidelines. Locally, food is
procured through donations; local grants; gardeners, hunters and farmers;
and contracts with national chains for donated frozen meat, fresh produce,
and shelf staple food. The pantry serves an average of 400 households
monthly with at least one senior in 50% of the households. We also
participated in the Voices for Food project with
Purdue University. We opened our pantry to university observers conducting
client surveys and inventory studies over a three-year period. Through
this, we participated in a local food council, labeled food categories
based on My Plate, and made
the pantry more user friendly.
- A
second team packs and distributes monthly senior supplemental boxes funded
through local grants. Our benefits volunteers use NCOA’s Access to
Benefits tool, BenefitsCheckUp®,
to determine eligibility and to be sure seniors are using all the benefit
programs available to them, taking a holistic approach to the individual’s
overall needs.
- A
third intergenerational team of 30 volunteers helps with a monthly drive
thru distribution of food in front of the senior center. The regional food
bank supplies a semi-truck of food which our volunteers put into people’s
cars as they come through the line. During the 2008 recession, the lines
were three miles long, serving 800 households in two hours.
- According
to Feeding America “food
insecurity measures the conditions that can lead to hunger.” To address
the root causes of food insecurity, a fourth team keeps the pantry stocked
with new Scholastic books for all age ranges, funded through a local
donor. Anyone using the Community Cupboard, including grandparents and
non-custodial parents can select a book at each visit.
- Our
fifth effort is outside the senior center and is an outdoor little free pantry next to a free outdoor library.
A kindergartener told his friend at school that he had been
really hungry, but then his mom went to the senior center. It is a battle, one
full tummy, and one book at a time.
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