"Once a month people can come to the pantry. They get a referral from about 50 different places in town, and that entitles them to come and they can select the food off the shelves," she said. "We don't tell them what to take, just how much they can take, and that's based on the number of people in their household."
If there's five or more people in a household, for example, they can take nine cans of vegetables.
The need is great in Dickinson, with the pantry serving as many as 25 families each of the three days per week it is open.
"That's a big number. Much bigger than what it was in the past," Kapelovitz said. "The last few years we've upped the poundage. Four years ago we had 116,000 at the end of the year, in some odd pounds. A year later it was up to 125,000. A year later it was up to 127,000. And I don't know what the numbers are going to be, but I know it's going to be more than that for this year."
Demand is consistent through the year, along with the pantry's needs.
"Last summer we had one period of time we did not have a can of corn in our possession," Kapelovitz said. "It so happened we had volunteers from St. John's Lutheran working that day and they were just amazed. So they went, talked to their associate pastor and told them, and he had church service that night. By Saturday, when we opened, and outside both doors were stacks of cases of corn."
She added, "We were blessed. That's the way God takes care of all of us. People have a lot of giving in their hearts."
The pantry's clients, Kapelovitz said, are just people who need help.
"We here at Amen don't judge anyone," she said. "(Local agencies) determine whether the person should come to the pantry or not. It's solely based on their need. If they've got four kids in the family and they're working one job in town, they're probably paying rent, all those expenses, they probably don't have money left over to buy food. When people come here, we honor that request and give them what we can."
On the pantry's shelves and in its many refrigerators they have meat, yogurt, bread, sweets, and cereal. "Everything you would have in your home," Kapelovitz said.
Hunters donate game to the pantry. This year the pantry received venison, as well as elk and pheasant.
The pantry has a double-garage full of refrigerators and freezers to store its donations of perishable items.
The community is always generous, Kapelovitz said, particularly during the winter months.
"Businesses and organizations always think about feeding the hungry when it's around the holiday time, so we're always blessed that we get a lot of donations before the holidays," she said. "It helps us get through."
Kapelovitz enjoys being able to serve others.
"Every day we talk about it as volunteers on the floor, that you go home feeling really good, because very rarely do we have a person who comes that's not thankful for the food that we give them," she said. "We think it's a blessing that Dickinson has this, and Dickinson is a very caring community."
