WHAT DO YOU KNOW
ABOUT THE CEDAR KEY FOOD PANTRY?
November 25, 2018
The Cedar Key Food Pantry has been a staple in Cedar Key for many years now. It has been operated in the past by the deLainos, Donna Beach and Jeri Treat, Pastor Susie Horner, and now by Sue Colson, all with casts of generous volunteers. The holiday season is a fine time to reflect upon how this consummately necessary, efficiently operated organization runs.
Noteworthy is the fact that this year the Food Pantry quadrupled the amount of food it distributes while it has halved the cost and halved the labor needed to make it happen.
HOW DOES THE FOOD GET TO THE PANTRY?
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The Pantry receives food from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) free of charge when it has surplus. Commodities vary according to the surplus. Most of the time, the Pantry receives milk, canned goods, beans, rice, etc.; other times it receives fruits, cheeses, etc. Deliveries are made twice a month. One hundred fifty thousand pounds of food are ordered and received monthly at the Pantry. USDA requires a contract with the Pantry and regularly inspects for temperature control, cleanliness, and more.
- The Food Pantry must purchase its other food staples with the donation dollars it receives from generous people, such as yourself.
- These staples the Pantry purchases from Gainesville-based Bread the Mighty Food Bank, a private non-profit organization founded in 1987, which collects, sorts, stores, and distributes donated food and basic essentials to more than 160 non-profit feeding programs and partner agencies. They have purchasing power; they serve Alachua, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, and Levy County.
- Bread of the Mighty sells food to the Food Pantry at a significantly reduced rate as they are nonprofit, buy in bulk, and distribute locally. Items may be purchased for as little as $ 0.18 a pound and loaves of bread at $ 0.10.
- Colson other volunteers select, purchase, load, transport, and deliver, to Cedar Key, and ultimately unload, shelve, rotate stock, and distribute the stores. Additionally, they clean floors, wash refrigerators, regularly monitor refrigerator temperatures, and rotate stock.
WHO MAKES THE FOOD PANTRY WORK?
Volunteers
City of Cedar Key Vice-Mayor Sue Colson and a cast of regular individuals operate the Food Pantry, including everything from ordering to distribution. Colson orchestrates the long- and short- range plans that make it possible for each of the 136 families and 391 individuals coming to the Pantry to have food, a variety of it, fresh milk, produce, and as healthy as possible additional choices. Colson works with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), replete with its regulations and paperwork, and Bread of the Mighty Food Bank to gather food for distribution.
Cindy Turner, Alex Bletcher, and Marie and David Lewis are but a few of the dedicated group that gather to assist in the Herculean endeavor of loading, unloading, storing, counting, shelving, distributing, and repacking well over 50,000 pounds of food annually from the Bread of the Mighty and the amount from the USDA.
INDIVIDUAL DONORS
Throughout the year, individuals and fund raisers donate dollars to the Food Pantry. One such fund raiser is the Empty Bowls effort in which all proceeds go to the Pantry.
Cedar Key Lions Club
The entire annual supply of milk is made possible by the very generous Cedar Key Lions Club, a $6,000 donation.
The Cedar Key United Methodist Church
The church houses the Pantry offering a large amount of physical space to house, sort, stack, and distribute food. The church also most graciously pays the utility bills and offers its parking space to the effort.
Volunteers from Cedar Key Churches
All churches membership’s volunteer for Pantry work; the Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, and the Church of Christ members take part.
Full-Time and Seasonal-Residents
Full-time Cedar Key residents work with the Pantry’s needs for well over six months a year. Winter residents can relieve the full-timers and even out the work load. Both are very much appreciated and needed at the Pantry.
Waste Pro
Waste Pro picks up and recycles thousands of cardboard boxes that have been unpacked every other Tuesday morning; they do this so efficiently and so early in the morning the public doesn’t even see them.
Faye Sanders, CPA
Faye Sanders provides bookkeeping services for the Pantry.
Norm Fugate, P.A.
City Attorney Norm Fugate’s office processes a portion of the paperwork required to satisfy the USDA and the Bread of the Mighty filing requirements.
WHO ARE THE FOOD PANTRY CLIENTS?
Working Folks
Colson explains that few to none of the people who come to the Food Pantry are not working. Instead, they are elderly people living on a fixed income and/or underemployed people working several jobs, in many cases, just to make ends meet.
Levy County Locals
The Food Pantry offers food to individuals and families in Levy. Pantry staff ask for some official correspondence attesting to the fact that applicants live within thecounty; a light bill would work. If they have children, staff asks for some kind of official paper attesting to that fact; a school report card will suffice.
Those Earning Less
The Pantry operates within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines for its Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP). In order to be eligible to take food from the Pantry, according the USDA, poverty levels apply: individuals must have an annual income of $15,301 or less; a family of two $20,709 or less; a family of four $31,525 or less; and so on.
WHAT HAPPENS EVERY THURSDAY AT THE PANTRY?
- Clients come by the Pantry at the Cedar Key United Methodist Church each Thursday between 2:30 and 4:30 pm.
- They are greeted by Colson, Turner, and other volunteers present.
- The Pantry has a list that articulates how much food clients may take with them which depends upon the size of the family.
- Clients select their stores.
- Once a year, clients complete the required paperwork.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
All donations are graciously received. Checks may be written to the Cedar Key Food Pantry and given to Sue Colson in care of City Hall.
Volunteer! Most jobs can be completed in 45 minutes…once a month!
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