Belleville food pantry running low on basics, asks for donations
(Editor’s note: If your local non-profit group is in need of donations to help serve people in need during the coronavirus pandemic, please contact newsroom@bnd.com with the details.)
The Community Interfaith Food Pantry in Belleville is asking the public for help stabilizing its supplies as local residents stock up to wait out the coronavirus.
Donations of food and personal hygiene items help more than cash, said Executive Director Michael Foppe.
March of 2019 brought an average of 16 needy families a day to the pantry store, which is located at 1218 W. Main St., Belleville. That number bumped up to 19 a day earlier this week, then to 42 on Thursday.
“It’s more than double what we normally see. It has wiped out our shelves,” Foppe said. “... We can’t go to the stores to get food because they are not selling to anybody outside of the store because they can’t fill their own shelves.
“Money, right now, doesn’t help much. We are asking you to go to the store and purchase items that we need.”
The Interfaith Food Pantry is available to needy residents who live in Belleville, Swansea and parts of Shiloh. According to its website, patrons are asked to prove their income once a year and must show identification with each visit.
Usually, each visitor gets three full days of breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as food for a week. Milk, eggs, bread, soup, vegetables, meat, toilet tissue, corn muffin mix and crackers are items that are usually included.
The amount of food and other necessities each patron receives likely will be reduced -- perhaps by half -- if supplies continue to fall behind increased demand, said Foppe.
Foppe said grocery hoarding makes meeting that need a greater challenge.
“A plea to the people: Don’t panic buy,” he said. “Our governor says we have a good supply of food that can go to the stores.”
The food pantry needs donations of personal hygiene items such as shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and feminine products. Box meals such as hamburger helper, macaroni and cheese, rice and pasta also are requested. Sugars with whole grains and low sugar, pancake mix and syrup, peanut butter and condiments also are needed, the pantry’s website states.
Donations are accepted Monday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesdays and Saturdays from 8 to 11 a.m. Donors are asked to bring their items to the back of the building during those hours and ring a doorbell for assistance.
For more information about donating or volunteering, call 618-355-9199, go to the group’s page on Facebook or its website at www.feedbelleville.org.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 2:02 PM.
