Las Vegas food pantry spills the beans on info for seniors citizens
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Food pantry volunteers open the doors to residents in need every week, but they are seeing the senior citizens who used to be their biggest donors, now lining up to receive something off the shelf.
Major Harold Laubach, Divisional Secretary for Southern Nevada Salvation Army, said he sees the shift occur at their Henderson location as more seniors and families speak with their case workers.
“Cost of living goes up, so what we see with senior citizens on a fixed income is they don’t have the ability to bend with the times,” Laubach said. “What we realized is that, yes, senior citizens make up a majority of our donor base but more and more every day senior citizens are making up more of our client base.”
A spokesperson for Southern Nevada Salvation Army said an 8 News Now story revealing the difficulties of Las Vegas seniors on a fixed income spurred the request to discuss the resources available for them at their 16 facilities and over 20 programs.
“We understand there is much less flexibility in a senior’s budget,” Laubach said.
The Southern Nevada Salvation Army supplies 18,000 food and comfort packages to needy families annually, according to their website.
The Southern Nevada Salvation Army Henderson Corps. food pantry near Lake Mead Pkwy. and Boulder Hwy. is open to residents seeking food on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Laubach said their Henderson location has seen an influx in clients due to the scaling down of the other local food pantries of a different agency.
“We have a couple of local agencies here that have recently reduced their hours of their service,” he said. “Which has increased some of our client load and that’s fine we are able to do that.”
With the increase in demand for helping the community, Laubach said the need now is for volunteers to step up in their community.
“One of our biggest canned food drives, where we partner with the post office, has tripled in size compared to last year.” He said. “We will not only collect a lot more food, but we will need a lot more volunteers.”
The next opportunity to help during the post office canned food drive in Henderson will be May 11, at three different postal locations.
If seniors are not able to make it a canned food drive to pick up goods Laubach said a family member or caregiver can pick up supplies on the senior’s behalf, and added the organization is willing to problem solve with those in difficult spots.
“Please let us know how we can help,” he said.
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