Jefferson City now has a fourth mobile food pantry location, offered through the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri.
From 6-8 p.m., on the third Wednesday of every month, the mobile food pantry will make a stop at the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City, 1105 Lafayette St., according to Theresa Verslues, vice president of the United Way of Central Missouri.
In November, the pantry will be at the club on the second Wednesday because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The new location brings the number of locations in Cole County to six — four of which are in Jefferson City.
Several years ago, it came to the attention of the local United Way that Cole County “lagged behind” the pounds of food needed to feed its poverty-stricken residents, Verslues said.
“We were told we were lacking 1 million pounds of food being delivered to Cole County,” she said.
The United Way developed a group to look at how to overcome the deficit, she said. The group considered “brick and mortar” pantries, but that prevented the Food Bank from reaching many of the county’s poorest people, who often lack transportation.
“There was no way to move the needle based on the current pantry. That’s when the mobile pantry came to life,” she said.
The group hit on the idea of creating a mobile food pantry in 2015, and in late 2016, the United Way and the United Way of Central Missouri Foundation bought a mobile food pantry to meet the needs of the community, Verslues said.
The foundation paid for the pantry — a refrigerated truck, which cost $160,000. It was the first purchase for the foundation, which formed in 2003.
“Our goal since has been to try to build the mobile food pantries,” Verslues said.
The mobile pantry has delivered 708,000 pounds of food in Cole County so far this year.
County sites include St. Martins and Russellville. The four in Jefferson City are at Little Explorers Discovery Center, the Jefferson City Area YMCA, Capital West Christian Church and now the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City.
The pantry set up shop at the club for the first time Wednesday.
“We had a great response. We had about 144 families come through,” Verslues said. “That’s a lot for the first time.”
The Food Bank was trying to reach some of the larger pockets of poverty that exist in the city, she said. Organizers have looked at maps and data and sites that would be appropriate.
The club has a large and well-lit parking area on the Lincoln University campus and is close to low-income families, said Christa Holtzclaw, communications and marketing coordinator for the Food Bank.
“The way that we try to pick and select our mobile pantry sites is to service an area that’s not being served and to put it in a location that’s not very accessible,” Holtzclaw said. “That area wasn’t very well covered with out other mobile locations.”
The early evening timing was a consideration, too.
With people getting off work and picking up children from the club, the site will be convenient for a lot of families, she said.
The evening timing is also different than most other sites to allow access for people who may work during mornings and don’t have opportunities to go other pantries.
The United Way is looking for a business, club or organization to “adopt” the new site, Verslues said.
By adopting the site, the business or businesses would provide 10-15 volunteers each time the pantry sets up at the site — for two hours once a month. The volunteers hand out groceries, but also set up and take down the pantry and help people carry their food to their vehicles.
“By the time (food recipients) go all the way around the pantry, it can be quite a lot,” Verslues said.