CARLINVILLE -- Gloria Schaefer is happy to be among the 210 to 225 families per month from the Carlinville school district who receive food from the Carlinville Food Pantry.
Schaefer, who is in her 40s, has visited the pantry on and off for years.
“These people are great. I come here once a month, almost every month,” said Schaefer, who is part of a household of four. “A lot of times I couldn’t do it without them. They’re great, and they’re nice people. Glad that they volunteer. I’m sure that they need help out here with volunteers.”
Even more than volunteers, the food pantry could use more funds because its resources are beginning to be spread thin.
Currently, the pantry only has enough funds to remain open approximately 13 months.
“We would have to make cuts before that in order to stretch it out a little bit longer,” said Donna Eiffert, food pantry coordinator. “We would have to cut back on the amount of food that we purchase. …
“When I first started, we were serving about 50 families a month, and now we’re between 210 and 225 a month, average," said Eiffert, who said she started around 2000 or 2001.
The food pantry spends approximately $5,000 per month and is funded mostly through donations.
“We have a Rice Bowl grant through the Springfield Catholic diocese that we use to buy whatever meat supplement we might need through the year,” Eiffert said.
Under the umbrella of Carlinville Good Samaritan Ministries, the Carlinville Food Pantry has been established more than 20 years and is located at Carlinville Plaza.
Volunteers man the food pantry.
“We have a wonderful board of directors who also volunteer working at the pantry,” Eiffert said. “Without them, our pantry would certainly not be as efficient as it is. They do a tremendous amount of work to make the pantry run smoothly.”
Food for tummies
Carlinville Food Pantry clients may receive food from the pantry once a month. The pantry is open from 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays.
Clients had three opportunities to receive food on a recent Tuesday morning. They could choose items in a front area that were provided by the Midwest Food Bank in Morton. Then, food pantry clients were called in turn to shop with volunteers in the “Choice Room,” where they could choose from food such as veggie patties, hamburgers, loaves of bread and snack crackers.
In addition, clients could bring in a filled-out family order sheet from which volunteers filled according to family size from the “Grocery List Room.” Clients could order such food as milk, cereal, saltines, instant potatoes, peanut butter, pancake mix, beef stew and more.
“This is the food that we purchase from donations from the community,” Eiffert said about the Grocery List Room.
“Then we go to the Midwest Food Bank in Morton once a month and get just whatever they have extra. It could be anything from cookies to chips to Jell-O. … We get our government commodities from the Central Illinois Foodbank in Springfield.”
Clients bring containers in which to carry food home.
“None of this stuff will get you through a whole month, but it’s just kind of a cushion to hopefully get people a little more food in their tummies,” Eiffert said.
Eiffert said the food pantry is thankful for the support it receives.
“For as small a community as this is, they’re super impressive … all you have to do is say, ‘We need this,’ and somebody always pops up with it,” Eiffert said.
There was a time when an unspoken request was filled when the food pantry was located in another facility.
“We didn’t have much meat left, and we’re closed and I’m standing looking in the freezer wondering, ‘We got like three packages of meat left. What am I going to do?’ ” Eiffert said. “Then someone knocked on the door, and said, ‘I have all this meat that’s been frozen. Can you take it?’ ”
Contact Tamara Browning: tamara.browning@sj-r.com, 788-1534, twitter.com/tambrowningSJR.
WANT TO HELP?
Monetary donations may be mailed to:
Carlinville Good Samaritan Ministries/Carlinville Food Pantry
P.O. Box 23
Carlinville, IL 62626
Checks may be made payable to Carlinville Food Pantry
For more information, call Donna Eiffert at 972-8099.
