The Grand Gorge Food Pantry: Neighbors Helping Neighbors

GRAND GORGE — A fundraiser was held a few Saturdays ago for the Grand Gorge Food Pantry. It was well attended and the spaghetti with four choices of gravy (sorry, I grew up around Italians and can't say Spaghetti "sauce.") There was corn on the cob, garlic bread, green beans and broccoli. Desserts were served as well. The company was wonderful. Pastor Dot entertained the throng with a selection of tunes on the piano, mostly from the American Songbook. We had a great chat with our neighbor Larry Moran, and with Judith Maguire and of course Steve and Jennifer Martin.

I wanted to find out more about the food pantry to inform the community of the work being done for our benefit as well as encourage neighbors and neighborhood businesses to contribute to the work the volunteers are carrying out.

The food pantry's roots are found in a program, a 501 c3 started by the now defunct United Methodist Church on Route 23, Grand Gorge, near to the juncture of Route 30. And there lies the challenge and the heroes. With the closing of the church, the 501 c 3 could not continue to receive food from Delaware Opportunities, the pantry's main supplier.  The need to feed remained. Enter Steve, Jennifer and Terry Clark. Steve and Jennifer both say that it was the lessons they learned in the military, that when there is a job to do, you don't wait for others to do it, you pick up the tools and see it through. In this case it meant starting with filing long and complicated forms and getting a large number of ducks in order. Often what seems to be an easy matter is made complex by red tape. Today there are more folks in the volunteer staff, Cynthia Mattson  for example, making sure that there is good food enough for those facing food emergencies who live in Grand Gorge. "There is a limited amount, so it is take what you need," Jennifer explains. As their Facebook page states, it is neighbors helping neighbors. If you have food to contribute, they accept that as well.

"The majority of our clients are seniors, but we do have some families with children as well, but mostly seniors in our community. A lot of the people we help, their income is not even minimum poverty level. They have to choose between food for the week and heating oil or electricity." It isn't easy for seniors these days.  Jennifer informs us. "You're limited as to where you can get food" in Grand Gorge. There isn't a market, there is the gas station, the Dollar General... but for seniors, it is hard to get to those outlets. "And especially since COVID, the prices have gone up so, it is difficult for people to make ends meet. Their Social Security isn't going up, their retirement plans aren't going up. The interests in the savings accounts aren't going up. But the cost of everything is. Even the Food Pantry is trying to figure out new ways to provide the basics." Jennifer adds. "Both my husband and I have served in the military. He did 26 years, I did 21. One of the biggest things there, that they teach you about leadership is that your basic responsibility is to take care of those beneath you. You take care of them, and when the time comes, they'll take care of you."

With the price of gas and diesel going up each week, with no timetable predicting when we may expect the price to stabilize, let alone drop, food insecurity becomes more and more of an issue. The cost to move food from farm to store depends on the price of diesel, now higher than at any time in the history of combustion engines in the USA. Adding to the direct rise in the cost to purchase food is the cost of driving to shop. As Jennifer reminds us, there are no supermarkets in Grand Gorge. It will certainly get worse, so it is up to us to make it better. If you can, buy a few extra cans and drop them off at the Grand Gorge Civic Center when the pantry is open. Put the pantry on your list of holiday gift giving. As the Martins say, it is about people helping people.

The Food Pantry does a remarkable job during the Thanksgiving holiday, serving 70 families. The drive to make this possible has already begun on their Facebook page. It has been just over a year that the project has been operating as a 501 c3, and in that time, it has become  a dependable fixture in the hamlet. The church's food pantry was open once a month on Thursday, but to the Martins and company, that just did not seem to be nearly enough. They have expanded the days served to Thursdays every week, open from 10 AM - Noon.