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Last Updated: 01/28/2005
The Rockbridge Report is produced
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Lexington food pantry busy due
to others closing By Rob Armstrong Business is booming at the last major food pantry in Rockbridge County, but that’s not a good sign. In 2004, the Rockbridge Area Relief Association’s food pantry was one of four emergency food sources available to the poor. But within the last 30 days, two of the county’s larger pantries have either closed or reduced their services. In addition to the increased demand, the Lexington-based RARA food pantry is also faced with funding difficulties. In the mid-nineties, the RARA non-profit organization was receiving more than $15,000 in federal money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Last year, RARA received nothing from FEMA and members don’t expect any changes this year. But organizers of the food pantry, a branch of RARA’s emergency services to the impoverished, won’t back down and are determined to meet the area’s needs. “We’ve already seen an increase in demand over the past year, even when the other pantries were open,” said Steve Shultis, co-supervisor of the RARA food pantry, located on 712 North Main St. in Lexington. In fact, RARA’s pantry served almost 50 percent more food last year than it did in 2003. Last month, the pantry served more than 200 families and 500 people, an all-time high for RARA. This month, volunteers at the RARA pantry expect an additional overflow of visitors because of the closing of the Neriah Baptist food pantry. Neriah’s 300 monthly patrons will need to get emergency food elsewhere. A third food pantry, located in Buena Vista, is struggling to remain open. The cost of rent is threatening BV’s Community Share food pantry, which serves food to an average of 100 people per month. The resulting overflow could push RARA’s number of people served in the winter months past 700. Shultis, an ex-Marine, has spent several months preparing RARA’s facilities for the onslaught. His 25 years of experience with the U.S. Marine Corps taught him how to maximize efficiency. “We’ve broken down the entire program into simple systems,” he said. “There’s a point where working harder won’t get you any further. The answer is to work smarter.” In order to quickly package food into boxes for families, Shultis introduced a codified system of “A” and “B” boxes. Each box has a preset list and can be assembled in seconds. The As and Bs can be made into combinations for larger families, depending on their size. Shultis believes the operation must be efficient and simple to accommodate volunteers who may work for only half an hour at a time. “We can’t be a Mom and Pop operation any longer,” he said. Cody Kitchen, 12, has volunteered at the RARA food pantry for almost a month. When asked about the sort boxing system, the young Boy Scout said it was “very easy to do on my own.” While Shultis may be the team leader, he continually gives credit to the many volunteers who help make the RARA food pantry possible. Most of the locals who donate their time and efforts are retired and “absolutely outstanding,” he said. Mary Bergen, a retired Lexington resident, has spent three months volunteering with the pantry. Her job has been working the desk and keeping records of those visiting the pantry for emergency assistance. Bergen has seen a significant increase in the number of people coming through since she began. “Every month, there’s always more,” she said. “Today, we had nine families who were either here for the first time or hadn’t been to visit us in the past six months.” In 1972, RARA was formed in a joint operation between several Lexington-area churches in order to combine efforts in helping the local poor. Since its formation, the non-profit organization has expanded significantly, acquiring 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service. The RARA food pantry was mainly supported by members of local churches, especially R.E. Lee Episcopal Church. The organization’s director, Mary Brown, said that the food pantry could not be as effective without having moved to its current location at the former Rockbridge Free Clinic. She said that the pantry used to be based in an old house on Randolph Street that was in shambles. With limited funds, RARA couldn’t fix up the property, so members gave a bid to City Council to take over the Rockbridge Clinic building shortly after it became vacant. “It is easy to see that the numbers have increased sufficiently,” said Brown, referring to the pantry’s output. “And if we hadn’t moved, it would’ve been impossible to meet demands.” RARA pays only $1 a year in rent to the city of Lexington for use of the North Main Street office that now serves food to hundreds of people in need every month. Brown and Shultis are determined to meet new demands. As part of an effort to collect more contributions, RARA has added a public relations position to the all-volunteer staff. Craig Newman, a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, has volunteered to head-start a public relations campaign before attending Divinity School. His first goal as the public relations representative of RARA is to reach out to local churches and the Washington and Lee University community. Newman believes that monetary donations are most important to RARA’s efforts, “We don’t have a tremendous amount of room at the pantry to store excess food, and there isn’t a position we constantly need volunteers to fill … our greatest support comes in the form of financial contributions,” he said. “Churches are the driving force behind this,” he said. “But we still have many untapped resources. For example, we’ve received help from 23 churches in the past two years, but the phone book lists over 70 area churches. It will be critical to reach out to these places.” Newman will begin a support letter campaign to local civic organizations. He said that a critical resource is the local W&L community. “In the past, we’ve never been able to reach out to W&L,” said Newman. Newman said that in the past fraternities and sororities were the ones reaching out to RARA at infrequent and unscheduled times. “This doesn’t seem to be an efficient system,” he said. Bob Monahan has been co-supervisor of the pantry since October 2003. “When I took over, we were serving 125 families,” he said. Now we’re up to 200 a month.” Monahan emphasized the critical role that local grocery stores have played in supporting the food pantry. “Our largest single source is the local Kroger,” he said. “Their manager, Brian Simpkins, bends over backwards for us. We all owe him a huge thanks.” But Simpkins, who has worked for Kroger for 18 years, believes that he’s just doing his part. “We have a store policy to give back to the community,” he said. “They support us, and we support them.” Simpkins has been general manager of Lexington’s Kroger since 1997. His experience of delivering Kroger food baskets to the poor during the holiday season has been informative. “You really don’t realize what’s out there till you actually see it for yourself,” he said. As for Shultis, he’s taking it one day at a time. “The pantry has never run out of food,” he said. He hopes it never will. Donations to RARA may be mailed to P.O. Box 640, Lexington, VA 24450
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