BY SYDNEY HOOVER
Cars lined up on North 1300 Road as early as 6 a.m. Wednesday, starting at Eudora United Methodist Church and at some points stretching all the way to the Winchester Road Bridge over K-10 Highway.
More than 200 families stopped by the church to pick up food from a mobile food pantry the church hosts once a month, with a total of 811 people served during the pantry’s April 15 distribution, volunteer Tom Schmidt said.
Schmidt said that’s the most people the pantry has served in a single morning in his two years with the pantry.
“This is one way you can help people,” Schmidt said. “There’s no way you can help that many people in that short amount of time in any other program I know.”
Local food pantries have reported increased numbers as the state’s unemployment skyrockets, with 130,000 people filing for unemployment insurance in the last three week. Douglas County is one of the most heavily hit counties, according to the Kansas Department of Labor, with 1,259 new unemployment claims last week.
At Douglas County’s food bank Just Food, new clients grew 200% in the last month, Executive Director Elizabeth Keever said. Of the 6,500 times the food bank served a client in the last five weeks, 49% of those have been to people who have never used its services before, she said.
“We’re here and ready to support the community in whatever way possible,” Keever said.
While pantries have seen an increase in need, they have seen a rise in donations and volunteers as well. At the Eudora Food Pantry through St. Paul United Church of Christ, there has been an increase in individuals served, but there has been “quite a lot” of additional donations as well, said pantry co-leader Marsha Gordon.
Gordon said the pantry has seen a significant amount of monetary donations. For example, the Eudora Schools Foundation raised $1,100 for the pantry in addition to groceries donated to its food drive Tuesday.
“We’ve found the community is just so generous and they see the need out there and they’re working hard to meet it,” Gordon said.
Schmidt said additional volunteers this month helped the food pantry with serving an increased number of people. Typically, the food pantry has 12 to 15 volunteers, but with many working from home, additional church members asked to help out. Food for the pantry is supplied by Harvesters Community Food Network, which largely serves Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri.
All three pantries are distributing food through drive-up service to maintain social distance. Further information about each pantry includes:
Just Food: Individuals can receive food once every two weeks. The pantry is open for drive-thru from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays at 1000 E. 11th St. in Lawrence. Just Food will also deliver groceries to clients in Douglas County. Delivery can be requested here: https://justfoodks.org
St. Paul’s Eudora Food Pantry: Those in need can pick up sacked food through the pantry’s drive-thru service from 9:30 a.m. to noon Wednesdays at 738 Church St. Individuals can receive food from the pantry every other week.
Harvesters Mobile Food Pantry: Harvesters hosts its mobile food pantry from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. every third Wednesday of the month at Eudora United Methodist Church, 2084 N. 1300 Road. The pantry is a drive-up service, and the next distribution date is May 20.
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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