“We’ve already seen increases through last year, just in general with the extra benefits that came out of COVID ceasing,” he said, adding that with one less pantry as an option for people, “that puts a strain on your resources, so it’s kind of like a snowball effect when one pantry is affected, it affects the other ones. All of us are running paper-thin.”
New Life Mission is the seventh-largest pantry in Butler County and distributes around 204,000 pounds of food annually, according to Shared Harvest Food Bank, which tracks that data.
Serve City Executive Director Tammi Ector announced on Jan. 1 in a letter to friends and partners of the organization they’re suspending the operation of the food pantry until further notice, mainly because of lack of financial support. She told the Journal-News that with donations being down, they “had to make some tough decisions.”
Serve City ― which ended 2023 as the sixth-largest pantry in Butler County, distributing 209,000 pounds of food annually ― will continue to operate its homeless shelter at 622 East Ave.
“We need the people who have the means and the resources to give financially,” Ector said to the Journal-News last week.
Now, the families who once relied on Serve City will need to seek assistance at other pantries, such as New Life Mission, Open Door, and the Fairfield Food Pantry, which serves Fairfield, Fairfield Twp. and, as of a couple of years ago, Hamilton.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Fairfield Food Pantry manager Wayne Patten said he believes the calls and new clients they saw Tuesday “is the tip of the iceberg.” That day, six people representing Lindenwald families came in seeking food assistance, and Patten said the pantry fielded at least 10 calls. A few more came in on Thursday, and he believes as news spreads they serve Hamilton families, more in Butler County’s capital city will make the trek south to Fairfield.
Patten said the Fairfield pantry serves 50 to 70 families a day, and he believes that number will increase, but could not guess by how much. Fairfield is the 10th largest pantry in the county distributing just under 159,000 pounds of food a year in its limited service area, according to Shared Harvest.
“We won’t really know until next month, but I anticipate a pretty substantial increase,” he said.
While financial donations are preferred, because pantries can buy the items they need, food donations will be important as they navigate Serve City’s temporary closure. They also need personal care items as families cannot purchase those items with food stamps.
Just as with New Life Mission, the demand for Fairfield’s pantry had grown before Serve City’s closure. From October 2022 to October 2023, they saw nearly a 90% increase in families seeking assistance, Patten said.
Open Door Food Pantry Executive Director Michael Reardon also said they won’t know how the temporary closure will impact their South Front Street facility until the weeks to come as people will need to decide which pantries they’ll use, especially since they share some of the same clientele as the other Hamilton pantries.
He said he “was very surprised” by Serve City’s news and isn’t sure what it will eventually mean for the community as “there’s definitely a need” for pantries.
About 50 people representing families come in during their operating hours, which are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, Reardon said he thinks “it would increase our numbers.”
But they’re in a good position to help, he said.
“We’re in pretty good shape,” he said.
HOURS OF OPERATION
New Life Mission, 415 S. Henry St., Hamilton, is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday
Open Door Food Pantry, 800 S. Front St., Hamilton, is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday
Fairfield Food Pantry, 78 Donald Dr., Fairfield, is open noon to 3 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday
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