The cupboard is bare — again.
Bethlehem House, a transitional homeless shelter in Conway, hasn’t had enough food in its pantry to give out food boxes for weeks, said Judi Lively, executive director.
“Summer is our lowest time for donations of any kind — financial, as well as food donations,” she said. “I think that’s true for most nonprofits. I do think vacation makes a huge difference, and people just aren’t in their normal routines.
“We’re seeing it financially, but we’re also seeing it in the food pantry,” Lively said.
The normal schedule for food-box distribution is 4:30-7 p.m. Monday through Friday at the shelter, 1115 Parkway St. People are asked to call and make an appointment.
“We do that largely so that we know we have food before they come. It’s pretty disappointing for people to show up or drive across town [and not get food],” she said.
Lively said staff members try to put enough food in the boxes to last three days, and the amount of food depends on the size of the families.
“We’ll do different amounts of vegetables, or different amounts of protein, depending on the family. We take food out of the freezer to put in them, like if we get hot dogs or something,” she said.
“I had somebody text me today and say, ‘Hey, could you use some green tomatoes?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ Basically, whatever’s donated, if it’s not eaten here, we try to give it out in food boxes.”
Three sacks of green tomatoes were left in the dining room. Shelter resident Charlene
Allen said the residents were going to fry some of the green tomatoes to go with their dinner that night.
Lively said Bethlehem House has a partnership with a restaurant in Conway to get its leftover rolls and bread, and the shelter also gets fruits and vegetables from a grocery store.
Looking in the pantry last week, Lively said, she was surprised to see so much cereal, but few canned goods.
She said providing a home until people get on their feet is the No. 1 priority of the shelter.
“There are many food pantries in town, so food is not necessarily what our major focus is,” she said. “We want to focus on actually providing shelter and helping people make a change in their lives.”
The shelter has beds for 40 people.
“We have a few beds open, but we are working off our waiting list to interview right now,” she said. A man was on his way over to talk to her about one of the emergency beds, too.
When someone calls looking for food and the Bethlehem House pantry is low, she said, the person is directed to other food pantries.
“We say, ‘Soul Food Cafe is Tuesdays; try to go there. Thursday is The Ministry Center.’ We utilize those other places, too,” she said.
Volunteer Lesley Turner works the desk at the shelter from 1-3 p.m. two days a week and handles publicity from home.
“It’s super hard when somebody calls or comes by and you have to tell them, ‘We don’t have anything for you.’ It pretty much breaks my heart to have to do that,” she said.
Turner said she has a sheet that lists other organizations and churches that offer food pantries.
However, she also said Bethlehem House is the only organization she knows of in Conway that offers a hot meal at 6 p.m. every day for anyone who shows up. Churches and other organizations often prepare the meal, but sometimes the shelter residents cook it using pantry ingredients.
Lively said the shelter recently received grant money for food but that the money won’t last long.
“I think we do very well as a community with food. I just don’t know that there’s ever enough food available for the requests,” she said.
Bethlehem House is a United Way agency, but it relies on donations, too, Lively said.
“Overall, donations are down,” she said. “July and August are probably our lowest giving months.”
She said financial donations can be mailed to Bethlehem House, 1115 Parkway St., Conway, AR 72034, and food donations may be brought to the shelter.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.