In Ann Arbor, the local food pantries are busier than ever with the government challenging Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits all around the country. While SNAP is working in stores, the participants are now faced with new requirements in order to get government assistance. Now, more than ever, people are reaching out to their communities to ask for help and the food pantries are all hands on board.
At Packard Health Clinic, a large food pantry is open to the public. Anybody in Washtenaw County can come, though the majority of the people who go are already established patients at the clinic. The Packard food pantry does have some guidelines for things like the amount of supplies you can take per family. Along with that, if they are new to the food pantry, they will need to fill out a form, which is used for giving consent to the Packard employees to take the people to the back of the pantry. All that’s needed is to fill out is your first and last name, they do not require any ID.
Elizabeth Lara, who is the Community Resource Coordinator for Packard Health, runs two food pantries in Ann Arbor. This one on Carpenter Road and another on the West side.
“Our food pantry has been around for 17 years and has grown bigger over time,”Lara said. The pantry is supplied by the nonprofit organization ‘Food Gatherers’, but we typically take donations, which can be food or money.” The Packard pantry gets weekly deliveries on different days. The pantry offers things like canned items, non perishable items, hygiene products, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, meat, and any dairy. Packard has a large refrigerator where they keep these cold items fresh for the taking. Though it truly does matter on what the pantry receives that week for food options.
“For a household visiting you have access to a gallon of milk, a carton of eggs, and then one or two meat products, depending on what we have,” Lara said.
Recently, Packard has received donations from local churches and even their own workers have pitched in too. It really takes a community to make a food pantry work and now, with some being denied SNAP benefits, these pantries turn into the main source where those can get their food.
“Food is a need and often people’s money are going to other things that they have to pay for at home, they don’t have much room for groceries,” Lara said. “They can save a few bucks by coming here and a lot of the things we have are really good stuff. We have been busy and even now some benefits are not getting cut, we still are busy.”
Another local food pantry near is actually at our very own Huron Highschool. Run by Emily Mashal, one of our counselors here at Huron, the food pantry is located in the main office in the far back to the right. Mashal started funding the pantry back in 2022 and it has been going strong for the past five years.
“We have so much food insecurity in our community and there is no such thing as having too much food,” Mashal said.
Mashal shares that she will go to Food Gatherers on Thursdays and if she sees something that isn’t moving from the pantry, she will take it and bring it back to our school pantry. With SNAP benefits possibly being cut, Mashal has seen more traffic in the food pantry whether that be the students or families of the students. Items you can find mostly are easy to make or ready to go snacks and meals. These items are open to anyone, even offered to kids who stay late at school to come pick something up to eat. A simple cup of noodles or a granola bar can make a big difference.
“Mr. Carter and our current administration is extremely supportive and championed for the pantry, which is amazing,” Mashal said. “Our teachers are so amazing, so many have brought in bags and boxes of food more than once and especially with the budget crisis it warms my heart to see the love and support that our staff is showing to the community.”
More and more students are visiting the food pantry recently so Mashal is always trying to keep it stocked for everyone to get what they need. In fact the only thing you need to do if you visit the food pantry is write your student number on a sheet of paper, not putting your first name or last name, keeping it somewhat anonymous for all.
“Our typical visit last year was around 500 plus. For this past month of October, we logged about 800 visits; that is a huge increase,” Mashal said.To Mashal it makes her happy that students are using this resource and not going hungry. Everyone is welcome to the pantry and Mashal believes so much in the cause that everyone deserves food.
