Areas in Daviess and McLean counties are expected to be part of a yearlong pilot program that will bring mobile food pantries to low-income residents.
Currently, Tri-State Food Bank in Evansville is identifying "food deserts" in western Kentucky, or areas where no grocery stores exist and residents have limited access. If residents must drive 20 miles to a grocery, they live in a food desert, said Glenn Roberts, Tri-State's executive director.
Often, elderly and disabled residents find that distance prohibitive, and many low-income families lack transportation.
"It's not a problem of (food) scarcity," Roberts said. "It's a problem with distribution."
Tri-State distributes food to nonprofit feeding organizations in a 33-county region, including counties in western Kentucky.
The mobile pantry idea is not new, Roberts said.
"More and more food banks are doing this. It's challenging to get to people in these food deserts ... This is a way we can do that," he said.
Tri-State has used mobile pantries to distribute food in southern Indiana for about four years.
"They're usually well received," Roberts said. "This is an area we want to expand."
Here's how a mobile pantry works: Tri-State loads a truck with fresh produce and other food items from its warehouse and heads to a regional church or permanent food pantry. Food is unloaded in a parking lot. Using the honor system, residents declare their income, and if they are eligible, they receive up to 40 pounds of food.
Roberts hopes Tri-State will be able to make deliveries to various sites up to four times during the pilot program.
Everything is still in the planning stages, but the first delivery could take place as early as next month, Roberts said. Webster and Hopkins counties also have been identified as food deserts and may be targeted communities.
The project received nearly $7,000 in funding from Owensboro Health's 2017 Community Health Investment Grant Program.
"Owensboro Health understands how food insecurity and hunger impacts the health of our communities," said Debbie Zuerner Johnson, director of community engagement. "In an effort to address these issues and specifically reaching out to areas where community members may not have access to food, including fresh fruit and vegetables, we invested in the Tri-State Food Bank ..."
Becky Smith, president of the McLean County Help Office, had talked to Roberts and knew the mobile pantry may be coming to her area.
She believes Sacramento and Beech Grove probably qualify as food deserts.
"I love the idea," Smith said of mobile pantries. "It breaks my heart that people don't have food."
The Help Office provides food to clients once a month. It serves about 300 households monthly.
"We've never had to turn anyone away," Smith said.
But that doesn't mean clients wouldn't benefit from extra supplies a couple times a year, she said.
Roberts estimates each mobile pantry costs about $500. If donations are made to serve specific areas, Tri-State is willing to do single mobile pantries.
Community foundations in Perry and Spencer counties in southern Indiana have donated money for mobile pantries in their areas.
"We hope to entice individuals to sponsor a mobile pantry," Roberts said.
