OUR NEIGHBORS: Homesteader helped create Food Pantry

WASILLA — Betty White knows first-hand how the number of needy families in the Mat-Su has increased over the years, and she set out to do something about it.

White, her husband and their children first homesteaded in the Valley in 1959. Living was tough at their plot near Threemile Lake in Knik. Their house was a few unmaintained miles off of the main road, which caused problems for both the commuter and the students in the family.

The drive from the Valley to Anchorage that is all too common now was a bit different back then, White said. Her husband, who still worked in Anchorage, had to drive through Palmer then south on the Old Glenn Highway. And that’s only when Knik Road was not flooded.

“He would go to work on Monday morning and return on Wednesday night. Then, he would go back on Thursday morning and come back Friday night,” White said.

When they moved to Knik, the family had children in the first, third and fifth grades. Luckily, White said, they all rode the same bus to school. But, getting them the three miles to the bus stop was a major concern when there was two feet of fresh snow, she said.

“We had to have them at the school bus stop at 7 a.m. Then, I had to pick them up at 4 p.m.” White said. “It was a long day for the kids during the winter.”

After two years of this true daily grind, the family moved back to Anchorage and all its conveniences.

When the children were grown and gone, White and her husband moved back to the homestead. They made additions to the house using wood from their land and settled permanently in 1980. Her husband drove back and fourth to Anchorage for a year before he retired in 1981.

White became involved in the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Wasilla after moving back to the Valley. When she joined, Good Shepherd had a small food pantry offering food to those who could not afford it. Other churches in the area had similar operations, she said, but all worked independently of each other.

White, with members from the other churches, decided it would be best to join forces. In the early ’90s, the Food Pantry of Wasilla was created.

White said the pantry was originally run by a board composed of representatives of each of the five founding churches: Good Shepherd Lutheran, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, St. David’s Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church and First United Methodist Church.

“We decided that we would not expect anyone to listen to any preaching. We gave food to anyone who came,” White said.

When the pantry first started, it was run out of the basement of Good Shepherd and served about 100 families each month, White said.

White, now 80, moved into Wasilla after her husband died a few years ago. She still helps out with the food pantry occasionally and marvels at its success and growth.

“If I’d known what it would become, I would have been afraid to start it,” White said jokingly.

The progress White has witnessed since first coming to the Valley translates into more needy people. Teeland’s General Store has been replaced by Target and Wal-Mart, the school house on Main Street has been replaced by a huge district and the number served at the pantry has swelled to 800 to 1,000 families each month, she said.

The food pantry has just hired its first director, she said, and now has a permanent location. But despite the changes, the service ethic is still what runs the organization.

“People know they can get food there if they need it,” she said. “The neatest part has been the volunteers. They are just such caring people. They are just wonderful.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.