The Daily News

Last year, the Richland-Wilkin Food Pantry received, on average, 80 families per month. This year, that number has increased dramatically. In August, the food pantry experienced a record high of 136 families.

"We have not had less than a hundred all summer," said Karen Stroklund, food pantry director. "This summer has been very busy. In fact, since October we haven't had less than 100 families per month. So our numbers are really going up."

During the summer, there typically aren't many food drives, Stroklund said. Usually, people only donate food to the pantry or hold food drives during the winter holidays. As a result, there's food going out but not usually much coming in.

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"Come holidays is when everybody thinks to have a food drive," she said. "Which is nice, because we're extra busy then, too.

While the food pantry can get items through Great Plains Food Bank, Fargo, they are limited to the products that are available.

One exception is a recent effort started at the Twin Towns Gardeners' Market called "A Pound for the Pantry," where people can donate food to the shelter anonymously.

"The vegetables coming in now has been really, really nice," Stroklund said. "That helps a lot."

The pantry doesn't have many other items, though. Stroklund said she has never seen their stocks so low. The pantry is not out of food, but large families won't hardly receive 70 pounds of food.

There is always food available for people at the pantry, Stroklund said. However, they receive fewer items and less variety because there is less to distribute.

More specifically, they do not need: cereals, sugar (which is provided by Minn-Dak) and flour (which is provided by Horizon Milling in Fairmount).

"Pretty much anything else," Stroklund said. "Anything in a can, anything fresh. The fresh vegetables go out pretty much as fast as they come in. They're really used anytime of year."

The presence of Ruby's Pantry has not helped to alleviate some of the pressures on the Richland Wilkin Food Pantry, said Stroklund.

"We thought probably it would help with us having less people, but I don't think it's taken people away from us," she said. "I was hoping it would. I was hoping it would help enough that our numbers would go down."

Though they are strictly an emergency food pantry and not a monthly food assistance program, Richland Wilkin Food Pantry is still in great need of items.

"People are desperate," said Stroklund. "They're in need and we don't have enough to give them. We give them a week's worth of food and, well, there's a lot more weeks to cover."

Stroklund hopes, now that school has started, things will lighten up, because schools help provide food for children, though she is never worried.

"I never worry about the future," she said. "People come through. People are very supportive of the pantry. I never worry about what tomorrow will bring because I know what we need is going to be there. People help."

The Richland Wilkin Food Pantry is located at 699 8th Ave. S. in Wahpeton. Their hours are Tuesday-Thursday 1-3 p.m. and Thursday from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Comments

Gary wrote on Sep 22, 2010 7:49 AM:

" AmpleHarvest.org can help you help your local food pantry.

Harvest food from your home garden, visit AmpleHarvest.org to find a local food pantry, and then share your garden bounty.

It is that simple.

If your community has a food pantry not currently listed at AmpleHarvest.org, urge the pantry staff to register at AmpleHarvest.org

Backed by Google, the USDA and many faith organizations, AmpleHarvest.org is free and has almost 2,800 food pantries registered in all 50 states.

Check it out. "




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wahpetonmom wrote on Sep 6, 2010 5:47 PM:

" I am thankful fo Ruby's pantry. This program is open to anyone and the volunteers are respectful to the families in need.As a community member, who has donated to the food pantry and helped organized a local drive I was disappointed to hear of the disrespectful way some families were being treated when looking to the pantry for assistance. The food pantry needs to assure all their helpers are respectful of the people seeking their help. I have worked with families that would rather seek other options that be degraded by specific people at the pantry, this is very sad! "




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