Jeremiah's Inn to hold food drive June 10-11
WORCESTER - Worcester's food insecurity is being met head-on for thousands of households by the local charitable organization Jeremiah's Inn. The residential treatment facility for men in recovery from substance use disorder is addressing hunger within Worcester's three ZIP codes (01610, 01603, 01607) by holding its 29th annual food drive this week through June 11 at both Shaw’s Supermarket locations in Worcester.
Damaris Pena, 58, who held factory, personal care assistant and housekeeping jobs but had to leave them due to health issues, relies on Jeremiah's Inn for food. "It's very helpful. It's very good because I help myself and, sometimes, I give to my neighbors when they need it," Pena said. " I don't have a job and my income is low, sometimes not enough. What I save in food I save it to buy other things I need.
Because the pantry is small a line of people is frequently waiting outside. Intake Coordinator Serina Connor works with each client in the pantry one at a time. Often with simple Spanish words and phrases, she assists each person as they arrive with bags and small food carts.
"The amount of elderly that comes through. I get a sad, kind of, because elderly people should not be coming to a food pantry for food," Connor said. "There shouldn't be that big of a problem right now. I think there should be more assistance programs for the elderly.
"The food drive really helps but just regular donations by the public are amazing. It's really cool to see farms and organizations that bring us fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and eggs. Stuff that's really, really needed. We do feed an enormous amount of people for being such a small space. There's never a time when we are not [busy]. Our needs are usually fresh vegetables, which are always a plus, dried goods, rice, prepared meals. Toiletries are always, always a plus."
According to Executive Director Janelle Wilson, 2022 saw just under 24,000 households visiting the pantry, with a 247% increase from 2021 with 6796, and about 24,000 last year. Currently, the pantry is seeing 30 to 50 households a day for the four days a week they are open. That's potentially 6,240 to as much as 10,400 households for the year.
"The need [in the community] has been tremendous. During COVID, obviously, the need expanded. We saw sort of a lull in 2021 surprisingly but in 2022 things started ramping up again. The highest utilization we have ever seen was in 2022," Wilson said.
So far, but the year is only half over.
"The cost of living here in Worcester is really high so people are struggling to pay rent and buy food for their families. Also, the COVID relief benefits that people were receiving went away in 2021 and 2022 so people don't have that as a backup. Some of the SNAP benefits went away this year. So I think it's a mix of the economy and people still recouping from COVID.
"We do our food drive annually in June every year. A lot of people think about donating in the holidays and people are hungry all year round. Also, school is ending soon and most of the kids in Worcester get free breakfast and lunch in school, so those are two meals a day that families are going to have to provide. That tends to be a struggle in the summertime," Wilson said.
Food donations bins for collecting food and essential household items can be found at both Shaw's Supermarkets, 68 Stafford St. and 14 West Boylston St.
Jeremiah's Inn is looking for volunteers at both Shaw’s on June 10 and 11 to help collect food, essential items and monetary donations. They are looking for four teams from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both days. To volunteer, contact alyssa@jeremiahsinn.com. For more information, visit https://www.jeremiahsinn.com/food-drive/.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Jeremiah's Inn to hold food drive June 10-11
