Lord’s Cupboard food pantry in south Salem sees more people in need 

On a rainy, overcast Saturday morning dozens of people, some of them elderly and disabled and others with small children, filled a large seating area at the Trinity United Methodist Church and waited to be called into the church’s food pantry.

The pantry, called the Lord’s Cupboard, is located on the church’s property at 590 Elma Avenue S.E. and has been seeing a significant increase in people coming to pick up food for themselves and their families as the government shutdown stretches into its second month. 

The ongoing federal government shutdown means millions of dollars in food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program didn’t reach recipients at the start of the month, despite a federal judge ruling Friday that the federal government must pay out those benefits. It is unclear when benefits will be restored.  

That uncertainty is weighing on both Salem residents who are struggling to make ends meet and those who work to serve the community. 

According to the pantry’s manager, pantry volunteers, and officials with the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency – a social services agency partnered with the food pantry to help increase its reach – Lord’s Cupboard has seen a steady increase in people coming through its lines. 

On Saturday, the pantry was prepared to serve 200 people after averaging about 116 people last month, manager Shirley Cross told Salem Reporter. Cross said those numbers are likely to continue going up, which means the pantry needs more donations and volunteers to fill the growing need.  

David Martinez was still dripping from the rain but had made it to the church and secured a spot in line to pick up food for his family of five. 

Speaking in Spanish, Martinez said he only started coming to the pantry about three months ago after getting sick, losing his ability to work as a tradesman. 

“Once I got sick, I went to apply for food stamps, but my application was denied because my daughter, I have a daughter who worked, and because of her income, and because she is an adult,” Martinez said. “They told me it’s because my daughter makes good money, and I said, ‘But the money is my daughter’s, it’s not mine.’” 

Food pantry volunteers soon began to call people into the pantry to shop, yelling out numbers in both English and Spanish, prompting Martinez to pause each time a person was called. 

“Then after that they sent me a letter saying I could reapply, so I reapplied, and it seemed like they were going to help me. But with everything that’s happening right now, I don’t know,” Martinez said. “It is uncertain what is going to happen. Either they (Congress) are going to come to an agreement and everything will be fine, or it could just stay like this. I don’t know. I really hope not, because just look at all these people here.”

Martinez said in the months he has been coming to the pantry he has never seen it as busy as it was Saturday. He also said that while the food he gets is tremendously helpful, it simply isn’t enough to get him and his family through the week. 

“Imagine, we are five people, and so it only really lasts for about three or four days…but something is something, right? Obviously it helps. It helps a lot,” Martinez said. 

Martinez said he isn’t all that hopeful for the future. 

“Honestly, from what I am seeing…things are just getting worse. Because I am seeing it just get more and more difficult around here to survive,” Martinez said. “Right now I think about what is happening to us right now, and I can’t imagine what is in store for the next generation…It’s hard for us, but it’s going to be harder for them…I worry about myself, but I worry more about my kids and my grandchildren.”

Eva Pignotti, chief program officer of early learning and child care for the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, said her organization started getting involved with the pantry about three months ago with the hope of providing food to community members. 

She said people are concerned, worried, agitated and angry, and that she sees a lot of new faces showing up every week. 

“Food banks also suffered a federal cut. So they are working with less stock, and more need. They are having to make decisions about how to put the resources out to all the pantries,” Pignotti said. 

That fact along with the impending SNAP crisis and growing hunger in the community is “all we talk about,” she said. 

“We have other partners planning different food drives. We are hoping for donations. I think the people in our community care about hunger and they care about their neighbors. We are seeing more people offer to volunteer, we are seeing more people wanting to make donations. And bringing us food. That is all very helpful,” Pignotti said. “I believe the community has to take care of its own in this situation. We do rely on the government, but we can’t rely on the government in this instance and we can’t rely on them to be nimble and quick.” 

Pignotti said she has seen the need grow just in the three months she has been at the pantry and has seen people lining up in the cold and the rain at 1 a.m. to secure a good spot in line. She said while the pantry won’t turn anybody away, there are limited resources to go around. 

“I would drive past the church and see the people. And it was like a parade, people putting out their chairs to hold their spot,” Pignotti said. “If a hundred people get here before you, we might run out of something by the time you shop and that’s why people come early, because they want to get the best assortment.” 

Nancy Ostrem has been volunteering at the pantry for longer than she can remember. She said decades ago there was hardly any need in the community when it came to food. 

“If we had 20 people, we were busy,” she said. 

She noticed that changed about five years ago and on Saturday things got even worse. 

“Today is the first day where we have actually… we are limiting what they can have,” Ostrem said. “We’ve never done that before. Today is the first day we have done it. And it’s because of the SNAP. Because we are expecting maybe, we have 100 on a regular Saturday, but they are expecting…getting close to maybe 200. Last week we had 150.” 

Cross has managed the pantry as a volunteer for the past five years. She said over that time she has seen the need ebb and flow, but this time is different.

Now, she finds the church having to dip into its own funds to help fill the gaps left by Marion Polk Food Share, the nonprofit that provides the pantry’s food. That organization is struggling with imited food to distribute to area food pantries. 

“There is nothing normal here lately,” Cross said. 

She said this weekend she ordered 180 half gallons of milk and 100 dozen eggs to help fill the gap.

“That’s coming out of the pocket of our church,” Cross said. “We are already campaigning and we are getting a lot more food donations.”

She said her church is fortunate to have donors in the community who contribute, allowing the pantry to buy whatever it needs to feed the community.  

This Saturday is the first time the pantry started operations an hour earlier instead of 12:30 p.m., and there are plans to expand service to one more day a week leading up to Thanksgiving to fill the need. 

=Gov. Tina Kotek announced a state of emergency Thursday and directed $5 million to food banks across Oregon. 

Eddie of Salem, who chose not to share his last name, said he is currently in recovery and is between jobs. As an able-bodied man, he expects he will find a job soon and pay for his own food, but that the pantry is helping him through that transition. 

“I’m just trying to keep myself fed, plus the government shutdown going on right now, no foodstamps, and I’m in between jobs, so I just come here to get some food for myself,” Eddie said. “It is what it is. What can we do? Accept it or stress out about it. But it is good that Oregon is actually helping people out and getting some extra food in the food banks, because when it comes down to it, people are starving, they need food.” 

Eddie said he will likely be fine, but he feels sorry for older folks who can’t work and those who have children to feed. He is aware of the effects of the shutdown but said he does not concern himself with the politics behind it. 

“I don’t really understand what is going on…I don’t have time to worry about it too much. I just have to find a job and just pay for my food. When you are by yourself, you don’t have to worry about a lot. My kids are grown and it’s just me, so it’s not too bad,” Eddie said. 

Eddie said he gets about $294 a month from his SNAP benefits. He comes to the food pantry at 7 a.m. to get a good spot in line, he said. He had a message for others who are struggling. 

“We don’t want people to go hungry,” Eddie said. “Don’t let your pride get in the way. You go out and ask for help and you get that food box. There are all different levels of life out here. Homeless, the people that have a house, people that have kids…it’s all about helping and loving and sharing with people.”

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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