WHITEHALL — The White Lake Food Pantry runs out of Lebanon Lutheran Church in Whitehall, but that undersells what goes on there each week.
"Really, they're like a second congregation at this point," said Lebanon Lutheran pastor Doug Ogden of the over 100 families who are served by the food pantry each Wednesday. (The pantry will not distribute Nov. 26 and Dec. 24, due to those being the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas respectively.)
Almost as much as the food, Ogden believes those who visit the pantry benefit from a brief splash of community, so he checks in with most of those who drive through for their weekly batch of food. Many of those who utilize the pantry are seniors living on fixed incomes, and for some, who don't have family around and simply can't afford to get out of the house much, it's a rare opportunity for some social time.
Over 30 volunteers are part of the pantry, including those who assemble each Wednesday beginning at 7:30 a.m. to pack the boxes for distribution, which begins at 9:30 a.m. The pantry used to begin distribution earlier in the day, but as its client base grew - cars spill out of the Lebanon Lutheran parking lot multiple times on pickup days - the traffic began interfering with school bus traffic at the nearby elementary schools.
The pantry began, Ogden said, "as a cooperative effort among our local churches so that people in need didn’t need to drive to multiple locations for a supply of groceries." Lebanon Lutheran was picked as the host site because it had the most available space. In fact, it has enough space that at one point, pre-pandemic, the church also hosted breakfasts as a community social event.
It is space that has become increasingly well-used. The pantry's annual budget is now $60,000, supported in part by local businesses, foundations, schools and community groups.
"Almost every day someone comes by with a bag or a check to donate," Ogden said. "It is truly appreciated. Almost every week a volunteer drives to Feeding America in Grand Rapids, Montague Foods, the new Aldi, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and suppliers in Hart, Clare, Muskegon, and Holland. Every week one of our teams goes to Country Dairy to pick up over 100 gallons of milk."
The pantry houses several refrigerators and freezers that serve to store perishable food, and ample space allows non-perishables to sit on shelves until they're ready to distribute. Each client receives a box of canned goods, a gallon of milk, some meat, and any available fresh produce - as well as two rolls of toilet paper. Ogden takes special note of that, as toilet paper can't be purchased with EBT cards.
About the only things the food pantry doesn't stock are baby formula - there are too many different kinds, said Ogden - and clothes, due to lack of space.
The specter of the federal government shutdown and its effect on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program made the Nov. 12 distribution all the more welcome. Fortunately for SNAP recipients, that shutdown has since ended, but the weekly contributions from the food pantry remain very welcome additions to their lives.
The pantry is blessed to have several contributors, but more are always welcomed. The more drivers there are, the more milk the food pantry can stock.
Financial donations help keep the flow of food coming; "we are usually able to buy at less than wholesale cost, so we get a pretty good bang for your buck," Ogden said, but obviously the cost of food never decreases. The pantry is also eyeing the possibility of a single-story building that would help streamline operations, and is raising money to that end.
"If you see a volunteer, please thank them," Ogden said. "We don’t say that often enough."
