“We’ve grown tremendously,” he said.
The pantry regularly relies on just a few volunteers and two employees to serve the 1,000-plus people every month. Until a few years ago, the pantry severed just several hundred people a month.
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“It just shows you how much we’re putting out and the need,” Krieghoff said. “And there’s always room for more volunteers.”
When the pantry first opened 23 years ago, the need for it had been sporadic. Then the need grew in 2008 as the recession took hold.
“You don’t like to see a lot of people need the pantry, but we’re here to support all of them,” said Krieghoff, adding there are a large number of families that have immigrated to the United States, “and they also have large families.”
The goal for the fifth annual Fairfield Food Pantry 5K Run/Walk is to have 300 participants, but financially they want to raise as much as possible to support the 12,000-plus people served every year. This year the race is set for 9 a.m. on March 21 at Waterworks Park on Groh Lane in Fairfield.
One of the area’s leading advocates in fighting hunger is the Shared Harvest Food Bank, which supports organizations around Southwest Ohio like the Fairfield Food Pantry.
“While the economy may appear to be improving, this is not true for everyone,” said Terry Perdue, Shared Harvest executive director. “The poorest among us are working multiple low-wage jobs and combining households to make ends meet.”
Perdue said Shared Harvest’s partner agencies, just as the Fairfield Food Pantry, have seen “a noted increase in people served.”
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“Last year, our network reported serving 2,386 more families comprised of 2,328 more people with the largest increase being senior adults who are sixty years and older,” he said. “This by no means supports an improved economy, rather the struggle of the working poor.”
The Fairfield Food Pantry supports those in need in Fairfield and Fairfield Twp., and in parts of Hamilton’s Lindenwald neighborhood and Ross Twp. Those who rely on the pantry range from senior citizens to single-parent families, and there are even those whose only housing options are living in hotels.
Sponsorships for the March 5K are lower this year, said Krieghoff.
“We are not getting the sponsors that we normally do, and some are giving less this year,” he said.
Some are giving the same amount as they do every year, but some are giving less so “it’s a struggle,” Krieghoff said.
“This is our biggest fundraiser and we try to do the best job we can on it,” he said.
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