The largest food pantry in the Coulee Region will hit the road next spring, launching a mobile food pantry to accommodate underserved areas of La Crosse and throughout the county, WAFER Executive Director Erin Waldhart announced Wednesday.
“The mobile pantry will be like our pantry here, refrigerated, including frozen foods, and stocked with shelves” of perishables such as fruits and vegetables as well as nonperishables such as canned and boxed goods, Waldhart said in advance of a celebration of WAFER’s 30th anniversary at its headquarters at 403 Causeway Blvd. in La Crosse.
It will be similar to the nonprofit agency’s present service of boxed Food Share deliveries to sites in Bangor and Melrose, as well as La Crosse, and Senior Share boxes that go to about 200 clients a month, she said.
“It’s really exciting to let people have choices,” Waldhart said. “We can’t include a lot of fresh now because our truck doesn’t have refrigeration.”
The wheels-down target date for the truck is fluid, as WAFER staffers and board members still are researching the best type of vehicle and other details, she said.
“There can’t be steps because some (clients) can’t go up steps, so it has to be accessible on the outside,” Waldhart said, noting that a vehicle similar to a soda delivery truck, with sliding doors, might work best.
The facility’s computer system also would have to become mobile, and pacts would have to be set up for sites where the mobile pantry would be able to park for distribution, she said.
The Senior Share program started in 2008, and the mobile drop began a few years ago when a man said he would like to tap into WAFER’s resources but transportation issues prevented that, she said. Both delivery programs include La Crosse stops, as would the pantry on wheels.
More than 1,600 families a month use WAFER, with the average Food Share package, with four to five days worth of food for each member of a family.
The typical package includes nonperishable items such as canned fruit and vegetables, juice, side dishes, peanut butter, cereal, soup, pasta and tomatoes, beans, tuna, macaroni and cheese, frozen meat, hygiene items and additional items as available. Families also can choose from a large variety of fresh produce, lettuce, bread and dairy at the pantry’s headquarters.
More than 1,600 families come to WAFER each month.
“Our biggest service population is on the North Side of La Crosse, and I hope this will be able to reach communities we can’t, including rural and the South Side,” she said.
Even though municipal buses are available to South Side residents, some still aren’t able to come to the pantry, she said.
“It’s great for people to have bus service to come here, but a lot use a cane or a walker,” which can be difficult to maneuver with on a bus, especially trying to navigate with a box of victuals, Waldhart said.
The initial goal to mobilize is $60,000, which would include the vehicle, with modifications such as refrigeration, making the computer system mobile and a staffer for a year, she said.
“That is ballparked, because we don’t know what the modifications would cost,” Waldhart said.
One donor is committed to contributing $20,000, and the agency hopes to line up another major donor and solicit contributions from the public that such a donor would match, she said.
“We have the resources and we have the capacity,” she said. “The staff and the board have the drive.”
Waldhart expects heavy demand for the service, saying, “Some will jump at the chance to be able to pick their own produce and frozen foods.”
On the other hand, some “don’t like to be associated with what looks like a social service or be perceived as taking a handout. That’s not what we are doing. So many have to choose between food, electricity, clothing, health care and other necessities,” she said.
