When asked when the new Antioch for Youth and Family food pantry will be open and fully operational, Director Charolette Tidwell's answer was simple: "When Jesus gives us enough money."
"Enough money," according to Antioch Marketing Director Ken Kupchick, is an estimated $250,000 to pay for shelving, a nutrition center, a freezer unit, air conditioning and other projects inside the warehouse-style building at 1420 North 32nd Street in Fort Smith. Once completed, the pantry will continue the food distribution and nutrition efforts for the nonprofit, which Kupchick estimates will give away 1 million pounds of food to people in need throughout the Fort Smith region by the end of 2019.
This facility is an upgrade from the original Antioch facility inside a house at 1122 N. 11th St., Kupchick said. Even though Tidwell currently uses both facilities, the new pantry more than triples the floor space at the original facility and includes forklift access and pallet space.
Tidwell said it is urgent for Antioch to open up their new facility in light of the estimated 20 percent of residents in Sebastian County who are food insecure. Tidwell currently distributes food to families in need throughout the week and to Fort Smith Public Schools.
"It's a must," Tidwell said of the pantry.
Antioch in 2017 obtained the building permit for the pantry building, which includes three bays and a freezer. Two years of "trying to piece (the pantry) together" with grant funding and donations from businesses have followed, Kupchick said.
While operating out of two locations has allowed Antioch to concentrate volunteers in two areas, Tidwell said, she and Kupchick would prefer the upgraded access and storage space of the new pantry.
"Everything she did (out of the old pantry) was hand-carried. The best she could hope for was to maybe get six cases at a time, and that worked when she was only feeding 3,000 people," said Kupchick, noting that Antioch gave food to a record 18,593 people in September.
The mission of the food pantry is punctuated, Tidwell said, by Urban Institute's estimates that one in every five people and one in four children in Sebastian County are food insecure. The Urban Institute study also estimated Fort Smith residents on average spend 31% of their household income on transportation.
Along with alleviating food insecurity, a food pantry like the new Antioch facility would economically impact Fort Smith, Tidwell said. Each pound of food given as assistance has an estimated economic impact of $1.79, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Using that model, Antioch is estimated to have a $1.79 million impact on the region in 2019, Kupchick said.
"We’re not noticing the economic impact of a food pantry because we’re just looking at what new company has come in," Tidwell said.
In addition to alleviating local hunger, Tidwell said the food pantry also needs to open as a safeguard against possible fallout from federal decisions. President Donald Trump in July proposed measures that could eliminate food stamp benefits for 3.1 million people in the U.S.
"If that happens, we’re going to be worse than what we are," Tidwell said. "I think a community needs to be proactive."
