Editor’s note: Today is part 2 of our series looking at how pantries are filling the need for food for area residents. The series will conclude Thursday.

By Jill Whalen

jwhalen@tnonline.com

Close to 2,000 people rely on distributions each month from the Tamaqua Area Food Pantry at American Primitive Methodist Church.

It’s a number that continues to grow, and has jumped quite a bit in just the past few months, according to the church’s pastor, the Rev. Richard “Rick” Clemson.

The latest tallies from November show that the pantry serves about 577 households, or about 1,711 individuals. A few months earlier - in July - the pantry helped 393 households, or 1,101 people.

Folks come to the Hunter Street pantry from Tamaqua, and the townships of Rush, Walker, Schuylkill and West Penn.

Despite the growing numbers, church pastor Richard “Rick” Clemson is thankful the pantry is able to provide - mostly because of assistance from other organizations, grocery stores and community volunteers.

“We have only been able to keep up because of the support that we receive from Schuylkill Community Action and Helping Harvest; our two local grocery stores - Walmart and Boyer’s Market - and the food and money raised during the Tamaqua Hunger Campaign,” Clemson explained.

The pantry at the Primitive Methodist Church is one of four in the borough. The others are by appointment or pickup at the G-Lady’s Community Food Pantry of Stokes Ministries, People’s Pantry of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and Friends in Need Pantry at Trinity United Church of Christ.

G-Lady’s food pantry is a walk-up, self-serve site that opened a little over a year ago outside of 220 Green St. It has canned goods and toiletries, and is stocked twice a week with bakery items donated by Weis Markets.

“We get 10 to 12 big boxes of all their leftover baked goods and it will be gone or nearly gone that evening,” said Pastor Sharon Stokes of Stokes Ministries.

The demand is rising and the ministry often hears requests for additional help, Stokes said.

“We also started putting together food boxes and you can get a food box once a month,” she noted. “There has been such a huge increase in people calling. I’ve also noticed an influx of newer people in the area that don’t have any food so we’ve been so busy.”

The food boxes contained fresh or frozen meats, which the ministry purchases from donations it receives.

“Buying ground beef now is like buying gold,” Stokes said. “The cost has gone up so much.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index for food increased by 3.2% over the past 12 months.

In a separate report, the USDA predicts that food prices will continue to rise in 2024.

The Tamaqua Hunger Campaign increased its fundraising goals due to increased prices and demand. Volunteers recently raised $17,000 and collected more than 160 boxes of food for the pantries. In 2022, the campaign raised $15,000 and collected 85 boxes of food.

The rising demand spans the nation, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

According to the data, approximately 12.8% of U.S. households - or about 17 million - were food insecure in 2022. The number translates to approximately one in every eight households.

It is the highest level in four years.

Food insecurity was 10.2% in 2021 (13.5 million households), and 10.5% in 2020 (13.8 million households).

The Schuylkill Food Network helps 19 independent pantries across Schuylkill County, including the pantry at American Primitive Methodist Church. The network is a program of Schuylkill Community Action, and receives food though local contributions and public food programs operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Jason Schally, a network coordinator, said this year has been the busiest ever since it began under another name more than 50 years ago to distribute surplus government foods.

The county pantries served 18,000 families over the last state fiscal year - the most recent annual data. Schally said there has been about a 25% increase in need each year since the COVID pandemic.

“That’s probably a low estimate,” Schally said.

Commodities are distributed to the pantries based on population and utilization.

“So that all the municipalities in Schuylkill County get a fair share of the county allocation of commodities so that we can spread it out,” Schally said.

He said organizers both expect the worst and keep their faith.

“We hope that everything comes together as it should. We’re sourcing as much as we can from the regional food bank in Reading (Helping Harvest). We’re also sourcing from local warehouses and accepting salvage and donation offerings,” he said.

For example, the organization might receive a call from a trucking agency that has fresh meats or vegetables that were put on the wrong truck.

“We’ll acquire it and then we’ll stage it in our pantries around the county,” Schally noted.

About 500 volunteers help in different capacities.

“We couldn’t do any of this without the generosity and warm hearts of the volunteers of the Schuylkill Food Network,” Schally said.