Racine Food Pantry for Veterans Extending its Hours Amid Inflation and Food Insecurity

Racine Food Pantry for Veterans Extending its Hours Amid Inflation and Food Insecurity

RACINE — Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin staff members have for the past several years considered extending open hours for the organization’s food market, which is essentially a food pantry for veterans.

The hours are currently Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon-4 p.m. But starting Wednesday, April 6, and every Wednesday thereafter, the closing time will be 7 p.m.

Since it was founded, the market has never been open past 4 p.m., and so the extended hours are to help those who are employed full-time on a 9-to-5 schedule or something similar, Executive Director Zach Zdroik said.

With the country seeming to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the fast-rising costs of groceries due to inflation, staff couldn’t think of a better time to finally enact a later closing time.

“We’re seeing prices increase. And it’s not a little, it’s a lot,” said Steffane Timm, business coordinator and marketplace director for the organization located at 1624 Yout St. “Food is substantially more expensive.”

From February 2021 to February 2022, the cost of food in the U.S. increased by 7.9%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; that’s the fastest food inflation since 1981, according to Trading Economics.

“We’re seeing a lot more food leave our doors,” Zdroik said. “This is us adjusting to those needs. People need extra help.”

Food sits on a shelf Monday afternoon ready to be distributed from Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin's marketplace, which is essentially a veterans’ food pantry.

Rachel Kubik

Filling the hole

Working-age veterans ages 18-64 made up 76% of the U.S. veteran population in 2019, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. From 2015-2019, 11.1% of working-age veterans lived in food-insecure households and 5.3% lived in households with very low food security.

Veterans are 7.4% more likely to live in a food-insecure household than non-veterans.

This year, restaurant food prices are predicted to increase 5.5-6.5% and grocery store prices are predicted to increase 3-4%, the ERS stated in a 2022 Food Price Outlook report.

Veterans and/or their surviving spouses had been calling the Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin food market and asking for special appointments to stop by after open hours. Timm said the calls were happening frequently.

Staffers have been able to fulfill those appointment requests and thought, why not just open the pantry officially, rather than case-by-case?

“We were missing a lot of people,” Timm said, adding she hopes to see new faces visit the food market. “12-to-4 … not everybody can do that. This is something we just have to do. We have to offer this to more people.”

The food pantry has been serving 400-450 veterans in the Racine area. VOW will be monitoring the numbers once the extended hours have been implemented to gauge interest — if the extension is popular, the organization may also choose to close at 7 p.m. on Monday or Thursday, Zdroik said.

VOW is always looking for volunteers to help run the marketplace, and so with the extended hours, the organization may need even more help, he said.

Veterans or surviving spouses must provide proof of veteran status and must indicate to VOW ahead of time which day they plan on stopping in.

“Veterans can lean on us for the food,” Zdroik said. “They don’t have to worry about spending money on ground beef or whatever it might be. We are here to support them and their family.”

Timm said she also is looking forward to allowing veterans some extra spending money they otherwise would be using on food.

“We hope to fill that hole for them,” Timm said. “It’s a very sad life when all you can do is pay bills and buy food. You need something else.”

VOW receives its food as donations from businesses such as Amazon, Target, Walmart and local bakeries, as well as veteran groups and private citizens.

“The community as a whole comes through for us. It’s really incredible,” Zdroik said. “I’m so grateful for the support we continue to receive. It absolutely blows my mind.”

Source: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/among-inflation-and-food-insecurity-a-racine-food-pantry-for-veterans-is-extending-its-hours/article_4907cbaa-aee2-11ec-9076-237c2876fce0.html