The mobile food pantries held at Hartford United Methodist Church are both a cherished resource and a treasured hub of community. While three rows of cars await the arrival of the Feeding America West Michigan food truck in the church’s parking lot, volunteers welcome neighbors with warm smiles. One neighbor uses the time to read a book. An elderly couple takes turns cradling their dog in their laps, and volunteers and neighbors alike catch up on news of family and friends. It’s a small town, so most of those seeking support and those offering support know one another.
When that truck arrives, a volunteer group of Hartford High School seniors and older adults head up the effort to pack family-sized food boxes, divide 50-pound bags of carrots into family-sized bags, and load food boxes into neighbors’ vehicles.
Mobile Food Pantry Coordinator Susie McGowan feels as though the mobiles are necessary for her community, and they give volunteers a renewed sense of purpose.
“Everyone needs food sometime or other,” Susie said. “We all need the companionship. Most of the volunteers don’t quit. Fred’s been sick for three weeks, and you saw him out there, and he’s working his head off. Dale lost his wife about four months ago, and he didn’t have anything. I said, ‘You know where the food pantry is? Come help.’ He’s been here every week since then.”
At an April distribution, dedicated volunteers served 258 households made up of 785 people. They supplied neighbors with nutritious foods like carrots, onions, cottage cheese, juice, garbanzo beans, pasta, and oranges.
When neighbor Dawn’s husband lost his job and they struggled to stretch their budget, the Hartford United Methodist Church mobile was there for them.
“It helps out with the budget because fresh food is expensive,” Dawn said. “When my grandkids come and visit, I can feed them something they like. What they give, it’s just a blessing — really, it is.”
Neighbors Bill and Wanda, who have been attending for several years, feel the same.
“All the people here are like family now,” Wanda said. “People don’t look down on you over here; they treat you like a person. These people here at the church, they put their time in. And if it’s raining, snowing or whatever, they are still there, and I really appreciate that.”
Mobile food pantries in Niles “make people feel like somebody cares”
At First Baptist Church in Niles, mobile food pantry coordinator Roger Pickell and his team of volunteers foster that same sense of belonging in the work they do for Cass County.
“It just makes people feel like somebody cares,” Roger said, explaining that after he retired, he sought out a larger purpose. “I like people, and I like these volunteers. It gives them something, motivates them to get out and do something. The whole thing keeps me young.”
Neighbors Leo and Jennifer looked for support when Leo lost his job and Jennifer had to go on disability and couldn’t work.
“There are times when this is what gets us by,” Jennifer said. “Without this, we’d go hungry. It makes all the difference.”
A dedicated Niles grandmother, mother, and wife who asked us not to use her name gave up her job to care for her grandchildren when COVID-19 hit. Now, she continues to care for her grandchildren, a daughter who is handicapped, and her husband who has dementia.
“This really helps me out a lot,” she said. “We just struggle, and the kids would have to do without — and even my daughter and my husband would. What I spend on the kids comes out of our pocket. It really benefits us in so many ways.”