Metro Detroit pantries struggle to feed hungry

Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

Sterling Heights -- Families across Metro Detroit, many facing hunger for the first time, are finding it difficult to navigate the limited hours and locations of the area's food pantries.

Since Atheer Mansoor lost his job more than a year ago as a truck driver for a cement company, he drives five miles from Fraser to Sterling Heights each month to a food pantry. He takes home tomato sauce, vegetables and peanut butter -- just enough free staples to keep his cupboards stocked until his monthly food stamps arrive.

The 57-year-old father says at times his car breaks down and he cannot make the trip.

"Sometimes I stay home. If I have problems with my car, I have to leave it. I can't fix it," Mansoor said.

With widespread unemployment, hunger is creeping into new corners of southeastern Michigan, stressing a food assistance network that has until now mostly flowed from the suburbs into Detroit. With new pockets of hunger, food agencies and pantries are racing to fill the gaps, but finding the solutions are not simple.

"It's a problem," said Russ Russell, chief development officer of Forgotten Harvest, a food rescue agency based in Oak Park. "We know where there are pockets that are in need and are new."

More than a third of neighborhoods in southeastern Michigan have limited access to a food pantry, according to a recent report by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. Families have the farthest distances to travel to reach pantries in communities such as Wixom, Harrison Township and Southfield, the report said.

Riverwood Community Church in northwest Sterling Heights operates one of just a few pantries in that part of Macomb County.

Each month about 60 families leave with a carton of bread, rice, frozen meats and canned soup. That's double the number two years ago.

"In this area here, there wasn't much of a need," said Mark Frasard, head deacon of the church's ministry. "Now there is."

In the more rural parts of the county, pantries are even fewer and far between, said Sue Figurski, coordinator at the Macomb Food Program. "Unfortunately, they have to drive for everything."

The hours that food pantries stay open -- often during regular business hours -- also pose a challenge, especially to those who work and still need supplemental food help.

According to the United Way report, most food pantries in a section of Detroit operate Monday through Friday, and between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Food agencies say this is also common for suburban pantries.

"The more evening and weekend hours you have, the more you can serve working poor families," said Gerry Brisson, vice president for development at Gleaners Community Food Bank.

Part of the problem, however, is that most pantries are run out of churches and by volunteers with their own limited schedules, he said. And operating hours often need to be scheduled around other weekend and evening activities at the church.

"It's easier for most pantries (to operate) during the day when most people aren't at church," Brisson said.

But many churches try to accommodate individual pick-up requests after hours and on weekends.

About a year ago, Trinity Presbyterian Church began operating a one-day pantry on Saturdays in a parking lot at Haggerty and Ann Arbor Road in Plymouth Township. Eventually, it was relocated to the church, and a surprising number of families, 350 each month, turn out from Plymouth, Canton Township and Westland.

"We're (too) far west to have a pantry right here in our church," Ellie Schupra, outreach director, recalled thinking a year ago.

For working mothers like Margie Elrod, evening hours are essential.

The mother of three has become the sole breadwinner in her home since her husband lost his job at a plant nursery last fall.

"Now it's just me," said Elrod, who works as a retail manager in Canton Township. "I can't miss work. I need the hours."

After multiple calls to food pantries, she found one that was open one day a week at 6 p.m.: St. Dennis Parish in Royal Oak. With only one family car, Elrod drives there after work.

Like many food pantries, its hours are further limited because of its modest food supply. Last year, it served 2,064 households, a 60 percent increase from 2008.

Ron Woywood, who oversees the pantry, said the church doesn't have enough food to operate the pantry for more than one hour a week.

This year, food banks are responding by ramping up "mobile" food pantries -- one-day food distributions at parking lots or churches in the outer suburbs where pantries are scarce.

Forgotten Harvest now drives a refrigerated truck full of food to sections of Rochester and Royal Oak and West Bloomfield. Last year, Gleaners similarly distributed food from parking lots beyond Detroit, and plans to double the locations to 70 this year.

"It's a good short-term solution," Brisson said.

This has resulted in a much higher volume of food shipments to suburban and rural areas than in years past.

In 2009, Forgotten Harvest sent 840,000 pounds of food in 2009 to Macomb County, a 40 percent increase over the previous year. Similarly, Oakland County received 1 million pounds, an 85 percent increase from last. That is still far less than the 13 million pounds delivered to Wayne County and Detroit, but delivery to the suburbs is unprecedented.

"We're getting out there, but there are still food deserts for those in need," Russell said.

cjun@detnews.com (313) 222-2019

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100312/METRO03/3120398/Metro-Detroit-pantries-struggle-to-feed-hungry#ixzz0hyy3bGp6