Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
“The pantry is her heart,” Reed said.
Benson, 62, shared the award with fellow finalist Tonja Pohlman, the local coordinator for the Butler County Special Olympics at a ceremony last Friday. Benson — though grateful for the award — barely spoke of it in the days that followed. She told the Journal-News that the recognition was something she’d never expected.
Benson views the award as a way to bring attention to volunteers and the Village Food Pantry itself, which she started with Reed in 2017 after running a local church’s pantry for over a decade — wanting autonomy and the ability to branch out. “Never expected it, never was looking for anything,” said Benson. “I just knew that once I started to do it, the need was there, and the need always continued to be there.”
“I know I might spear it up and I know I might have gotten the award, but I could have gave every one of my volunteers (an award) because they’re the ones that do it,” Benson said. Those volunteers include her 84-year-old mother and occasionally Reed’s wife, Michelle, who lost motor function in her right arm years ago after a stroke. Reed said Benson has made it a point to accommodate all volunteers in order to add them to the team.
Over the past three years, Village Food Pantry has become one of the most flocked-to pantries in the county, serving 300 or more families in an average week. Every Wednesday, the site’s drive-thru style pickup causes a New Miami traffic jam — cars wrap around the block and some wait for up to two hours to get their food. When the pantry started six years ago, Benson served about 75 families a week.
Reed said Benson’s leadership and doggedness is directly responsible for how the pantry has been able to serve so many additional people. “She’s unwavering in her commitment to what she does,” Reed noted.
Benson attributed the uptick in clientele to a decision made by the state in the face of COVID-19 to serve food to anyone who needs it, no vetting required. Since then, Benson said, “It’s never stopped.” She’s advised her all-volunteer staff that the demand will likely continue to grow now that the federal government cut off the extra food stamp stipend it started during the pandemic.
Benson has balanced that demand increase with a food shortage. Shared Harvest, a bulk food bank that supplies many Ohio pantries, has had fewer options available as truckloads of food have gone undelivered. In October, Shared Harvest Director Terry Perdue said the food bank’s inventory was down 30%. Benson’s pantry has been able to keep up with rising demand through additional partnerships — some weeks, the Village Food Pantry gets supplies from three different sources, according to Reed.
Reed said the food shortage hasn’t curtailed Benson’s belief that the food she gives out ought to contain good-quality meals — not just mismatched items. “If she won’t eat it, she won’t serve it to you,” Reed said, describing the sense of respect Benson has toward her clientele.
“We treat our clients with respect and dignity. If they can stand in line for two hours to get what they need, we serve them with honesty and respect and dignity. That’s what we do.”
On most days, Benson heads to the pantry after clocking out of her position as a full-time machinist at the Sharonville Ford plant, where she’s worked for over 30 years.
On Mondays, Benson and crew pick up food and supplies and unload it at the site; on Tuesdays, they prep enough boxes to feed 300 families; on Wednesday they hand out those boxes; the remaining days can bring up intermittent tasks like additional food pickups, unloading delivery trucks or making specific runs for families in need. Reed estimated Benson pours at least 30 hours a week into the pantry.
“I’ve never met anybody with the tenacity that Pam Benson has concerning the pantry, ever, because she’s constantly thinking, ‘What do we have to do next?’” Reed said. “I get inspired by her.”
For Benson, the packed schedule doesn’t seem to make too much of a toll. Instead, it clarifies a wistful adage that her aunt first told her when she was young.
“My aunt told me, and I never understood what she was saying, she said, ‘God has a calling on your life.’ She said, ‘You may not understand what I’m saying but there’s a calling on your life,’” Benson recalled. “As I grew up — I’ll be 63 in September — I finally know what she was talking about. This is a passion that I love, I’m not looking for no reward down here, I’m really not, I’m just glad (because) if I’m getting noticed, that means the pantry is getting noticed.”
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