People’s Pantry Helps Franklin County Families
Highgate Center, Vt. – The most severe recession since the Great Depression has lingered for more than three years, leaving millions of Americans jobless and uncertain about the future. While Vermont avoided the worst of the downturn, thousands of Vermonters have been forced to cope with how to provide for their families in these difficult times. To supplement state and federal assistance, local communities have come together to help families keep food on the table.
Joyce Ely, 64, and Priscilla Greenia, 62, both from Highgate Center, volunteer for The People’s Pantry which began helping families in northern Franklin County in late June. The People’s Pantry distributes food and refers people to government agencies that can offer help. The effort was launched at the Highgate Methodist Community Center on state Route 78 “because of the need in the community,” Ely said. “We just felt we could fill a niche.”
The number of people in need since the onset of the recession has continued to rise, forcing even those with jobs to seek help. “It has a lot to do with the recession because you even have the working poor now,” Greenia said, referring to the Vermonters who are struggling to make ends meet.
Many who live in northern Franklin County who do find jobs, find them in Chittenden County, creating additional expenses. “The people that are going to Burlington – between daycare and gas – what do you have left,” Greenia said. “I don’t know how the families do it.”
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VERMONT PRIDE
“We’ve noticed a greater need, but not everybody comes. That’s the hard part,” Ely said.
“It’s that old Vermont pride,” said Greenia, who was born in Highgate Center and has lived in the small town her entire life. “I know what it’s like because I have been there. If you have one stick of bread in the house, you are going to make it stretch. You are not going to ask for help.”
One of the people who stopped into the People’s Pantry last Tuesday was a middle-aged man who has been looking for a job for more than a year. “There just doesn’t seem to be any hiring,” said the Vermonter, who asked to remain anonymous. “I’m either overqualified a little bit or under-qualified a little bit. … It really gets frustrating after a while.”
He had some good news, however. He just landed a temporary job that was set to start this past weekend. He described it as an “every week, seeing-how-many-hours job.” The other downside: it involves it an 80-mile roundtrip commute to Burlington. With gas prices rising, the commute becomes costly, he said. The filling station in Highgate Center sold regular unleaded for $3.20 a gallon last Tuesday.
Coming to the People’s Pantry and speaking with volunteers helps build a support network. “That’s one of the things I need,” he said. “That major, four-letter-word: hope.”
So far, the People’s Pantry is helping upwards of 10 families, or roughly 30 people, who live near Highgate Center, Ely said. They have the means to handle about 25 families, but are having a hard time persuading proud Vermonters to acknowledge they need help to manage the hard times.
Several of those who have tapped the resources of the People’s Pantry are “families who have moved in together to make ends meet,” Greenia said, a situation which has become increasingly common. Another family has a hard time making it to the People’s Pantry in person because they can’t afford to pay for the gas to drive into Highgate Center.
FIRST-HAND KNOWLDEGE
“My concern is that no child should have to go to bed hungry,” Greenia said.
She knows what it is like to grow up in a difficult economic situation. Her father died when she was three years old, leaving her mother to take care of her and her three siblings. “She took on the load all by herself,” said Greenia.
Greenia, whose income is limited to the Social Security benefits she has earned throughout her life, felt the pinch of having no cost of living increase this year. She said she would have been greatly aided by the $250 payment Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) fought to obtain for 58 million Americans who receive Social Security. She has learned the tricks of surviving cold Vermont winters on limited funds. This winter, for example, she sealed off the extra room to her trailer to save on heating costs.
END OF THE MONTH HELP
The People’s Pantry is run on Monday and Tuesday during last week of each month because, Ely said, “those are the hardest times.” Vermonters are stretching their paychecks and some are waiting for their next Social Security check to arrive. (Although the food pantry is located in the Highgate Methodist Community Center, all are welcome.)
“We felt a need for this pantry in Highgate because … people are struggling beyond measure,” said Rev. Kerry Cameron, listing a range of expenses facing Vermonters such as daycare, electricity, fuel, medicine, and rent.
Although Cameron said they can’t provide a full food program in Highgate Center, “we thought if we could at least provide a meal or two every month, at the end of each month, then maybe folks would not go hungry.”
Ely says she hopes they are offering struggling families “just a little something to get them over until they get their next check.”
“We are trying to make it a little bit easier to help people get from one day to the next,” Greenia said.
