Surging staff shortage at Long Island food pantries
Photo credit: Mahala Gaylord | Food pantry volunteer Larry Racioppo of Centereach picks bad potatoes out of a donated bag of spuds at the Our Savior Lutheran Church food pantry. (Dec. 3, 2009)
Demand at Long Island food pantries has surged faster than the tiny agencies' volunteer workforce has grown this year, creating a staff shortage at the worst possible time, said a report set to be released Friday.
More than three-quarters of Long Island's food pantries say they don't have enough volunteers to haul supplies from food bank warehouses into their own small storerooms. Others say they can't expand even as they try to serve double or triple the number of families as last year.
Among the positions needed to be filled are drivers, food baggers, intake evaluators and workers to carry food from delivery trucks to warehouses.
Paule Pachter, executive director of Hauppauge food bank Long Island Cares, said hunger relief efforts now face a cruel irony: While holiday season donations have surged for big groups like his, it's harder to get that food to hungry people.
"My warehouse is busting with food, but the pantries are not open long enough to distribute it and their volunteer pool is aging," Pachter said. "This is our challenge, to work with the pantries to get that food into the community."
The problem was exposed in a Long Island Cares report saying "the low level of volunteers" has put a "major squeeze" on small food pantries. The report was set to be released Friday at the food bank's annual legislative breakfast. It's based on a survey of 208 local organizations conducted by Bohemia accounting firm Cerini & Associates.
About 57 percent of those Long Island food pantries are staffed only by volunteers, and almost 80 percent have more volunteers than paid workers. Most have fewer than 10 staffers.
While 92 percent of the agencies said demand increased this year, the report said 89 percent are either cutting back services or keeping the status quo.
In Centereach, the Our Savior Lutheran Church's food pantry has the same five stalwart volunteers it's had for years, even as the number of families it serves has risen in the past two years from seven a month to 45, said Linda Goubeaud, a church school employee who coordinates the pantry.
"We've started limiting how many times people can come," Goubeaud said.
At the Roosevelt-Freeport Church of Christ's food pantry, the line goes out the door every Saturday, but the Rev. Walter Maxwell said he can't expand operations because so few volunteers can work on weekdays.
Though small pantries are stretched thin, large agencies like Island Harvest, a Mineola group that rescues surplus food from grocery stores and restaurants, are getting more volunteers than ever.
Many are motivated by news media stories of needy families, said Island Harvest president Randi Shubin Dresner, and they turn to "a credentialed brand" like her agency.
"We're well-known," she said. "The small food pantry in the local parish doesn't have that."
Food pantry work is tough, volunteers said, involving face time with the less fortunate and firmer commitments than many young people want.
"There's a new generation tapping into volunteerism through daylong projects with big groups," said Deborah Robertson, executive director of the Divine Intervention Institute in Freeport, which runs a pantry. "It's different than what we do."
To help, Island Harvest and Long Island Cares are hauling supplies to some food pantries that can't make the trip to distribution centers. Long Island Cares is extending warehouse hours, while Island Harvest is training pantry directors about bringing in volunteers.
Another problem the report highlighted was space.
About half of the agencies reported having no warehouse to store nonperishable foods and no access to refrigeration.
Pachter said, "We're hoping other not-for-profits and community groups will read the report and say, 'How can I help?' "
Community food pantries say they need volunteers and donated space to store food. Here are several that need help now.
Wyandanch. The Gerald Ryan Outreach Center. 631-643-7591
Patchogue. St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church parish outreach. 631-475-5402
Centereach. Our Savior Lutheran Church food pantry. 631-588-2757
Freeport. The Divine Intervention Institute. 516-655-6282
Roosevelt. Roosevelt-Freeport Church of Christ. 516-378-0380
Westbury. St. Brigid’s Catholic Church outreach. 516-997-5507.
These groups can put you in touch with a church pantry near you.
Catholic Charities Parish Social Ministry. 516-733-7044.
volunteers@catholiccharities.cc
Lutheran Social Services of New York. 212-870-1100.
Long Island Council of Churches. 516-565-0290, 631-727-2210.
