FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Joe Miller, the director of Miss Virginia’s Food Pantry, was faced with a tough choice Tuesday. With temperatures in the negatives, he had to close the doors. “It’s just too cold. And our volunteers, 23 percent of us are 80-years-old or older.”
Miller said it’s dangerous for the volunteers and the patrons. “To have people waiting out in line and not having really adequate places to park in this kind of weather, we saw it better to close instead of taking chances with people’s health.”
And it wasn’t an easy decision. They serve an average of 450 people in the three hours they’re open twice a week. He didn’t make the choice on a whim. “We don’t want to be closed and I can’t remember all the time that I’ve been a volunteer here that we’ve closed.”
Finding another option for patrons is a concern too as other areas are dealing with the same problems. “Well you always are. Yeah, it’s a concern.”
But even if they were open, they wouldn’t have had a way to get their fresh produce from the food bank. “Community Harvest, they have a policy that they don’t deliver food to the pantries when it gets 10 degrees or colder.”
So for now they’re being patient and just waiting out the cold. “Happy New Year to all of our clients and hang in there we will be open next week and we’ll have a nice clear parking lot for you.”
