Role of food pantries in community development

Visitor Question: All of the recent publicity about the important contributions that food pantries make to our communities has me wondering about whether there is a role for pantries in community development. It seems like places where food is distributed would also be places where other community information and services can be made available. What do you think about that?

Editors Reply: We agree that food pantries can be part of a community development program. As recent conversation about SNAP, the lower-income food program in the U.S., has shown, more than 10 percent of the population qualifies. Many people think that folks needing help with healthy food are a tiny sliver of society, but that isn't the case.

Pantries often are attached to places of worship or community organization, but sometimes they operate quite independently of those parent organizations. Those running pantries should make sure that their clientele is aware of the full range of opportunities afforded by the parent organization and also the community at large.

If you are involved with a food pantry, stuff those grocery bags with information, or put out all the information you have and let the shoppers decide what they want to take.

If pantries can be co-located with low-cost resale shops or social service agencies, so much the better.

Also food pantries need to be connected with community gardens, and vice versa. Pantries and gardens could collaborate to teach healthy cooking and nutrition.

Another angle to consider that most of the food pantry workers I have met in the last few years have enough compassion that they would be receptive to learning about other community development projects. Find a way to encourage pantry workers to give just a little bit more time in some other organization that will stretch them personally. More creatively, you could see if some compatible organizations could arrange to trade volunteers from time to time, so that all of the volunteers expand their knowledge base and find the best possible fit for their talents.

Another aspect of the food pantry role in community development is that the pantries can encourage their participants to learn about the community at large and how they can participate in cultural activities and community organizations that will broaden their horizons and increase their self-respect as they struggle to meet basic needs. Sometimes recipients would like to "give back" but don't know how. Make sure that those who are interested can learn how while they are picking up the food they need.

There is a commendable trend toward trying to reduce the stigma attached to frequenting a food pantry. One possible way to further this goal, while also helping businesses and landlords, is to locate a pantry in a downtown or a strip center that is not as full as it should be, or to locate a food pantry in a side room that amounts to excess space that a business is leasing. Helping landlords, business tenants, and needy residents all at the same time is true to the community development spirit.

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