Brenda Williams had previously been to the Conway Ministry Center food pantry, but this time was different. Instead of being handed a box of items, she got to shop for the food she wanted.
June 2 was the first day for the Family Food Foundation program inside the Conway Ministry Center, 766 Harkrider St. The Family Food Foundation is the merger of two pantries, that of the ministry center and Sold Out Church, which meets in the building.
“It’s actually set up like a grocery store,” said Laura King, food-pantry administrator. “It’s a completely different model. In the state, it’s the only one that we know of.”
People check in and are asked to show a photo ID, if they have one, King said. They are given a list of the number of items they can choose in each food category, depending on their household size. Each client has a personal shopper to assist him.
Spring Hunter, case manager for the Conway Ministry Center, said she got the idea about 2 1/2 years ago from an inner-city mission in Oklahoma City, which she said successfully uses a client-choice food pantry.
“It really, really reduces waste,” Hunter said. Instead of giving clients a box of food they may not be able to eat — canned fruit for diabetics, for example — the individuals can pick out what they want.
The Conway Ministry Center pantry was well-stocked last week, thanks to a Feed the Need drive, when several churches donated a total of 24,000 pounds of food in a four-hour period, said
Derek Jones, pastor of Sold Out Church.
King said volunteers from several organizations, churches and communities worked to sort items and get the pantry ready. In addition to food, clothing and hygiene supplies are also available.
The pantry is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Thursday, but individuals can pick up food only once a month.
King said the center staff suggests other food pantries if a person needs more assistance.
“We have created a list of all the food pantries that operate, day by day, with hours and phone numbers. We don’t want people to be hungry,” she said.
Williams said she relies on the food pantry to make her money stretch.
“I’m a senior citizen on a fixed income, so it really saves me money I really don’t have,” said Williams, who lives in Conway. “The only thing I have to buy is meat. That’s a blessing to me.”
A volunteer told Williams she could pick out meat, too.
“Oh, this is really nice — I appreciated the other — but this is really set up,” Williams said. She said she doesn’t want to be picky, but she hasn’t always liked some of the food given in the food boxes she’s received, such as fish.
Hunter said one woman even asked to return some unused items from her previous food box so someone else could benefit from them.
The food pantry has three freezers and one refrigerator and is working toward getting a commercial freezer, King said.
Jones said the idea is to help people make good choices, for one thing. Also, he and King both mentioned how people benefit from making their own choices.
“It gives them dignity that has kind of been forgotten and trampled on,” King said.
Hunter said she was going to “get on my big soapbox.”
“For people in poverty, it consists of standing in line and getting whatever is given to them,” she said. “Then we expect people in poverty to make good choices, and they’ve never been able to.”
Hunter said she wanted to be clear that she was not knocking food pantries that give out boxes of items.
Debra Deloney of Conway was loading plastic sacks of groceries — including meat, fresh vegetables and clothes — into her car. She said it was her first time to use The Family Food Foundation pantry.
“It’s really wonderful. It helps, considering I’m disabled. I’m on a limited income. I worked all my life,” she said.
Deloney said she worked at the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock, but she has an enlarged heart and was recently diagnosed with glaucoma.
“It’s been kind of rough,” she said. Deloney said she has had several surgeries and had another surgery scheduled this week. “I’ve got a lot of extra medical expenses, so places like this are a blessing,” she said. Deloney said her granddaughters stay with her during the summer, “so every little bit helps.”
“I’m not trying to take advantage of anything. Who knew all these things were going to happen?” she said.
By 1 p.m. June 2, the pantry had served 35 families, King said. She expected 35 to 50 for the day.
Hunter said she thinks use of the pantry will “explode” when more people become aware of it, so donations will be needed.
King said the pantry was in “desperate need” of meat — hamburger, chicken, even hot dogs and lunch meat. “We’d love to have milk, but we don’t need one or two; we need like 50 to 75,” she said.
Donations to the Family Food Foundation program may be taken to the ministry center on Harkrider Street.
Hunter said the goal is to help teach better nutrition to clients, too. She envisions partnering with the Faulkner County Extension Office to have cooking demonstrations using the ingredients in the food pantry and have recipe cards for the clients.
King also said she would eventually like to extend the number of days the pantry is open and offer evening hours.
“There are a lot of people who work, work day shifts; we don’t want to make them feel like they’re punished for having a job,” she said.
Hunter said an additional goal is to create relationships with the people who shop at the pantry, “like Mrs. Brenda telling me her daughter-in-law is due in August, and the baby finally flipped,” she said.
Pantry organizers said they hope more churches will partner with the Family Food Foundation.
“Our true goal is to get the community working together,” King said.
“The ministry center is all about unity in the body,” Derek Jones said. “It’s not our stuff; it’s [God’s] stuff, and we’re just managing it.”
For more information about the program, call (501) 358-6098.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.