Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry volunteers started with just a trickle of families needing help. In the past few months, the floodgates opened.
Chuck Arnold said the ministry is helping to feed about 50 families per week, which is about as many as the volunteers saw in a month last summer. He estimated at least 80 percent of those seeking help live in the Mustang School District.
“It gets a little scary sometimes wondering if we have enough food to go around, but so far we have been able to meet the demand,” he said.
Arnold took the idea to start the pantry to the leadership in his church in March 2010, and the Bridge AG congregation embraced it. Within months, the church broke ground on a 3,000-square-foot building to house the pantry, which opened in time for Thanksgiving.
Loaves and Fishes is a little different from other food pantries operating in the area. In other pantries, volunteers pack boxes filled with nonperishable foods to give to families. Melvin Masengale said Loaves and Fishes volunteers started out that way when they were working out of a small classroom inside the church. Having their own building allowed volunteers to change their tack.
Instead, volunteers reorganized more like a grocery store where families can pick out their foods. The church leaders also committed to be Oklahoma Regional Food Bank partners, allowing the Bridge AG to order groceries from the food bank at a discounted cost to make sure Loaves and Fishes' shelves stay stocked.
This partnership also allows Loaves and Fishes access to fresh and frozen vegetables, fresh fruit, milk, frozen chicken and bread. Masengale said they load a walk-in freezer and refrigerator to the ceiling after each shipment. If the pantry has a need, he said it would be to expand refrigerator and freezer space.
“It's a ministry we felt was important enough to invest in the building and the people,” he said.
The Loaves and Fishes pantry opens from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m Thursdays to give out food. Arnold said they have no residency restrictions, and volunteers try not to turn anyone away. Families are limited to getting food once a month.
Arnold said many are mothers trying to feed their families and parents searching for a job or who had to take a lower-paying job after finding themselves laid off. Senior citizens on a fixed income are seeking help balancing the rising cost of food with medical expenses. Arnold said several told him they are weighing whether to buy medicine, pay their electric bill or buy food to eat.
“Due to the economy and those kinds of things, we have seen a major increase — a lot of hurting families,” he said.
Loaves and Fishes volunteers know their efforts are making a difference, Masengale said. Some of their recipients have left the pantry with tears in their eyes, or have come up and quietly thanked him. He said he knows a handful of those receiving assistance are probably taking advantage of the pantry, but for many, it's making a difference for their families.
Masengale said he loves knowing he was able to help. Loaves and Fishes has 15 core volunteers and about 40 more who help out.
Volunteer Mittie Ellis said she sees helping at Loaves and Fishes as a way she can give back.
“There was a time when we needed help, and there were people who helped us. My husband and I felt this is one way we could give back to other people, and that comes from the heart.”
Other efforts
Mustang Kiwanis have run a food pantry for more than two decades to feed their community. Volunteer Glen Muse said at one point the Kiwanians were feeding around 16 families per week, but recently that has slackened back to an average of 12 per week.
He said he believes the decrease is related to the growth of Loaves and Fishes and other churches' efforts to build their own pantries.
The Kiwanis relies on donations of money and nonperishable goods to continue their efforts. Their community garden group has taken off, and Muse said the gardeners yield fresh vegetables to give out through the pantry.
The Kiwanis requires those receiving aid to live in the Mustang School District, and each family can receive one food basket per month.
Muse said he believes there is probably some overlap between families seeking help at multiple pantries. But if parents can better feed their children, he said he thinks that could be a good thing.
“If you have a family of three kids, especially if you are a single mom, our box of groceries won't do for very long,” he said.
Benevolence fund
Mustang churches contribute to the Mustang Ministerial Alliance's benevolence fund, which helps residents in need with utility bills and gasoline to get to work or job interviews.
MMA Treasurer Jim Harris said the fund is helping a couple of people each week and is holding its own right now.
“It will be drained prior to fall, that's for sure,” he said.
Harris also offers families food and clothes from Clear Springs Free Will Baptist Church's pantry and clothes closet.
But what concerns him more is that recently he is seeing families who are coming to him facing homelessness. Harris said one family had lost their home and could no longer stay with friends or family. He tried checking area shelters, but they were full.
“It's awful,” Harris said. “That's the thing, when you are faced with it, what do you do next?”