Demand has food pantry struggling
With an increased demand and stagnant donation rate, the South Zanesville Food Pantry.
Demand has food pantry struggling With an increased demand and stagnant donation rate, the South Zanesville Food Pantry. Check out this story on zanesvilletimesrecorder.com: http://ohne.ws/1w4ftiJ
Kate Snyder, Reporter Published 4:46 p.m. ET Oct. 13, 2014 | Updated 6:54 a.m. ET Oct. 14, 2014
South Zanesville Food Pantry seeks donations
Jill Crippen, right, fills out paper work at the South Zanesville Food Pantry while Tammy Roush fills a box of food for a needy family. Chris Crook/Times Recorder
Tammy Roush readies a box of food for a family at the South Zanesville Food Pantry at the South Zanesville United Methodist Church. Chris Crook/Times Recorder
Jill Crippen, right, and Tammy Roush fill a bag of food for a needy family at the South Zanesville Food Pantry at the South Zanesville United Methodist Church. Chris Crook/Times Recorder
Jill Crippen, right, and Tammy Roush fill a bag of food for a needy family at the South Zanesville Food Pantry at the South Zanesville United Methodist Church.(Photo: Chris Crook/Times Recorder )Buy Photo
ZANESVILLE – With an increased demand and a stagnant donation rate, the South Zanesville Food Pantry needs support from the community or it might not last the upcoming winter.
Jill Crippen, coordinator of the food pantry, estimated that, if nothing changes, it has a few more months left to operate.
"We're to the point now where I'm not sure we're going to make it," she said.
She said the pantry will take any kind of food in sealed packages, such as boxes or cans. Donations can be dropped off at or mailed to the South Zanesville Methodist Church, where the pantry is located. The church office is open from 9 a.m. to noon every day.
The pantry, as of the end of September, has served 4,074 more meals than it did in 2013. In 2013, the pantry served 58,554 meals. Crippen said she didn't know why the customer numbers had increased so much.
"A lot of it goes back to there are a lot of big families," she said. "Families might be moving in together."
The pantry started in 1997, and since then, the number of meals served from 2013 to 2014 is one of the biggest year-to-year increases. In August this year, 600 people came to the pantry, which is open only from 10 a.m. to noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The number of senior citizen customers also has increased this year, Crippen said. The pantry used to serve 20 to 25 seniors, but now it's up to about 100 seniors.
"For them, it's the choice of medicine or food," she said.
Crippen said the pantry is hosting a scrap metal drive, in which people can collect scrap metal and take it to Muskingum Iron and Metal, and if they say it's for the South Zanesville Food Pantry, the pantry will get a cash donation, which will be used to buy food.
Whoever participates in the scrap metal drive can get a tax write-off for the donation, Crippen said. Forms are at Muskingum Iron and Metal.
"There's such a need," said Tammy Roush, who has volunteered for the pantry for the past 18 months.
Sometimes, people can be self-conscious when they come in, Roush said, but volunteers are there to "help, not to judge."
"I do it for the kids," Crippen said. "I don't want the kids to go hungry."
Crippen has two kids, and her house was always a place where their friends, if they needed a place to go, could stay.
"I've just carried that on," she said.
The South Zanesville Food Pantry is part of the Muskingum County Hunger Network. Crippen said that, if people need help with food, they could get connected to a food pantry by contacting the 211 Call Center, which is part of the United Way of Muskingum, Perry and Morgan Counties.
People can drop off or mail donations to the South Zanesville Methodist Church at 53 E Main St., Zanesville.
Church office hours are 9 a.m. to noon every day, and food pantry hours are 10 a.m. to noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The pantry's phone number is 740-452-2457
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