Businesses, foundation, help stock bare food pantry shelves

PALMER — With food pantry shelves going bare amid increased demand, local businesses are trying to lend a hand.

“We kind of put out a challenge to all of the businesses to collect 200 cans apiece,” said Shelby Niles at Non-Essentials in Palmer. “Over 50 people have committed to make boxes and collect cans around Palmer so that’s quite bit.”

Folks who want to pitch in should just pick their favorite downtown business and drop off donations because chances are good they’ll have a box. There are also boxes at Carrs and Fred Meyer.

Niles said the aid is sorely needed.

“They have almost nothing. They don’t have enough to get through the holidays or even start to think about getting though the holidays,” she said.

The numbers seem to confirm that assessment. Alaska 211, a service of the Alaska United Ways, said in a press release that referrals for help with food make up 37 percent of Mat-Su referrals from January through June of this year.

The same period last year that number was at 24 percent and 19 percent and 17 percent in 2010 and 2009.

After a conversation with Alaska State Fair officials, the Wasilla Food Pantry loaded up on produce from the fair’s various gardens. The fair actually has many different gardens, said Marketing Director Dean Phipps.

“They’re all different purposes. Obviously we use them so people can see what grows up here. A lot of them are flower gardens we have over 40,000 flowers,” he said.

But the gardens in question were the produce gardens. The fair harvested kale, Swiss chard, cauliflower, onions and radishes to send to Wasilla.

“I saw them loading them up on Friday,” Phipps said. “They’re just now harvesting a lot of the gardens.”

In the press release detailing the increased food demand, Alaska 211 — so named, by the way, for a phone number you can call to connect with assistance programs for food and shelter and the like — said that the Rasmuson Foundation also has stepped up to help.

“Social service agencies statewide will get help in meeting at least some of the demand, thanks to a $1 million safety net grant from the Rasmuson Foundation. The funds will be distributed statewide based on population,” according to the press release.

The program says that more and more people need help buying food. Food is often the canary in the coal mine because food prices aren’t fixed like rent, utilities and transportation costs.

“Increasingly since 2009, we’ve seen more Alaskans — working people higher on the income scale than ever before — struggling to make ends meet. People who didn’t need help before need it now,” said Michelle Brown, president of United Way of Anchorage, which runs Alaska 211. “The biggest message I take from the 211 data is that many people have not been able to dig out financially. Demand on the system is unremitting and it’s taking its toll on people and systems.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.