[00:00:01] Speaker A: The Journey Hometown Journal Families are trying
[00:00:04] Speaker B: to put food on their table and feed their kids and feed themselves, and it's increasingly difficult.
[00:00:11] Speaker C: Welcome to the Hometown Journal. I'm Mark Edwards. This week we are sharing with you the work of the Commonwealth Catholic Charities and the affiliated outreach of the St. Francis House Food Pantry in Roanoke. The pantry is helping to feed people in the community. Lucy Enge is the development officer with Commonwealth Catholic Charities of Roanoke. Lucy, welcome. Tell us about the history of St. Francis House and its work in Roanoke.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: So St. Francis House has been around for over 50 years, since 1973. It's over on Campbell Avenue, kind of adjacent to downtown in the southwest part of the city.
And it's been serving families and helping them meet their most basic needs for decades now. And I think it's been about a decade and a half ago it became a part of Commonwealth Catholic Charities.
And so, you know, our mission as an organization is to serve our neighbors towards a brighter future and to help them, whether it's refugee services, adoption and foster care, or with St. Francis House here in Roanoke, really provide support and show up for our neighbors faithfully.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: So the food pantry is part of the larger outreach mission of St. Francis?
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Absolutely. St. Francis House, we are a USDA emergency food assistance program pantry and we operate partly from that food from that program which comes through feeding Southwest Virginia. And the other part of our food comes through the generosity of churches and parishes here in Roanoke who we have this shared ministry with. And the pantry also is home to our baby closet. And that's a partnership we have with churches as well, providing diapers and other small child related support.
But the main focus of St Francis House is to provide food. We also offer some hygiene items and really just try to show up for people in need at critical and challenging times in their lives.
[00:02:14] Speaker C: On average, about how many people are receiving assistance through St. Francis?
[00:02:20] Speaker B: We counted both by individuals and households. So in April we served about 395 households, which was made up of about 1300 individuals. And in May, that was about 330 households, which made up about 1050 individuals. So we're consistently operating over serving 1000 individuals a month.
[00:02:47] Speaker C: Has St. Francis seen people that maybe a few years ago did not need the extra food assistance? We've heard that from other food banks and food pantries that they're seeing more people that because of rising cost, because of gas prices so forth, that they just need more assistance to make it through the week?
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, right now we've seen significant cuts to snap. We're Seeing increasing energy costs just continuing to rise. We're seeing, you know, a lot of families rely on free and reduced lunches at school. And now, you know, it's June, it's the end of the summer, and there are summer feeding programs. But that is a huge gap that has been created. So families that, you know, I feel like there's. That there's the pre pandemic era, there's the pandemic, and then we're in like a post pandemic year. But all of these changes have contributed along with the other things I mentioned to families are trying to put food on their table and feed their kids and feed themselves. And it's increasingly difficult. And so we've absolutely seen a rise from that. And it makes a challenging situation for us because at the same time, we are seeing, we've seen increasing numbers. We're now seeing decreasing amounts of food coming in through our monthly delivery with Feeding Southwest Virginia.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Tell us a little bit about the need that St. Francis has today and what it looks like.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: So we get a monthly delivery. First Tuesday of every month, we get a delivery from Feeding Southwest Virginia of USDA food.
It used to be we get a full truck and we need lots of volunteers to unload. And our USDA food room would be completely stacked cereal boxes all the way up, and all of our freezers and fridges would be full of fresh veggies and meat.
And I was just there on Tuesday right after the delivery came, and there were empty fridges and freezers and a room that looked far more like it was the end of the month than the start of a new month.
Mostly bare shelves.
If you look at January's delivery, we had about 8,200 pounds of food in our delivery, which was, you know, much more the usual scheme of things. Of course, weight differs, but it's a good measure. May's Delivery was about £3,200. That is a 61% decrease in food.
And June, we're down another £300 just from May. It's a serious situation. And, you know, country staff has told me they've never seen anything like this before.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Well, let's let people know how they can donate, what is needed and how can people be a part of this and the work that St. Francis is doing?
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. This is neighbors helping neighbors and community coming together.
And every donation is deeply appreciated.
We're open Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 9 to noon for donations, and we are looking for rice, beans, peanut butter, canned meats and soups.
Pantry basics help make it easier for families to have dinner and have food to eat. Truly, we're grateful for donations.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: And what is the address for St. Francis in Roanoke?
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Our address is 820 Campbell Southwest. I'll add one other thing that we you know, we've spoken with our partners at Feeding Southwest Virginia, and they've been willing to work us to understand the problems because they're also it's not just that we're receiving less food, it's that they're receiving less food for them than in turn to distribute.
But they've been working with us to understand the problem and to try to come up with solutions.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: That is Lucy Enge with the Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Roanoke, and she has been with us to talk about the St. Francis House, specifically their food pantry. You can learn more about the food
[email protected] Mark I'm Mark Edwards. Thank you for being with us for the Hometown Journal.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: You've been listening to the Journey Hometown Journal. If you're a part of an organization or know of one in the communities we serve and would like to be considered as a guest, please make your request at myjourneyfm.com email officemyjourneyfm.com or call 800-424-9594. The Hometown Journal is a presentation of the Journey.
