Sweet Home Emergency Ministries (SHEM) announced they will be receiving an influx of food later this month, thanks to outside help.
Food banks such as SHEM have been finding it more difficult to source enough food in recent years.
As Pantry Manager Cindy Rice explained, food banks have been seeing an increase of people with needs and a decrease of food available. Recently, SHEM ordered 6,000 pounds of food twice. The first order delivered was only 1,500 pounds, and the second order was only 2,100 pounds.
“The trend is that the food is just not there,” Rice said. “It’s not just us experiencing the lack of availability, but we have fewer avenues of resources than Albany or other places do.”
Ilynn Winn, of JustServe, explained to the SHEM board how she helped secure a full semi truck of food from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints just for them.
“You get food from the Linn Benton Food Share, but as you probably know, over the years we have seen that decline,” Winn told the SHEM board.
As such, she began writing grants to provide food specifically for the smaller food pantries, “the ones that maybe just need a little extra help.” However, she realized that although the grants were approved, the trucks of food were being delivered to Linn Benton Food Share and not necessarily trickling down to the smaller food banks she wanted targeted.
“You’ve been on my heart and on my mind, and I know how hard you work,” she told the SHEM board.
So Winn looked around for an alternative option and, ultimately, learned an entire truck of food would be earmarked for SHEM. She said it’s never known ahead of time what kind of food will be delivered, but typically it’s things such as canned corn, spaghetti, cocoa, beans, flour, and pasta.
“A free semi of food, for me that stuff doesn’t happen ever,” Winn said.
The SHEM board is working on securing volunteers to help unload the many pallets of food that are expected to arrive in a couple of weeks.
“I think it’s awesome,” SHEM Chair Julie Dedman said. “It’s a much needed boost for SHEM.”