Published: December 01, 2008 11:44 pm      

Meeting a need

Food Pantry helps more than 300 families per month

FAIRMONT — Even with a bad economy, donations to the Mannington Food Pantry and Clothes Closet remain solid.

Consider a box that chiropractor Dr. George Higgs puts out to collect toys for Christmas for the pantry to give out. Last year, patients filled a small shipping box several times over with toys.

This year, because of renovations at the Higgs home, an even larger box that once contained a toilet will be used.

“It will be full,” said Paige Higgs, Dr. Higgs’ wife. “We had so many presents last year, we had to keep taking them to the back office.”

The Mannington Food Pantry provides food — mostly canned goods — to qualifying families year round. Those who qualify can go once a month between 9 a.m. and noon Wednesdays to stock up on what they need.

“We give them a three- to five-day supply of food,” said Colleen Morris, director of the food pantry. “It’s supposed to be a supplement to them until they get their next check.”

Started in 1984 by Ed and Sally Allen in the basement of their house, the Mannington Food Pantry soon moved to the basement of the town’s United Methodist Church.

“Then it became part of the Mannington Ministerial Association, and the board of directors actually bought the old Nazarene church to put the food pantry in the basement,” Morris said.

The upstairs houses Wonderland Day Care, and the rent paid by the business goes toward utilities.

That means all donations — both from the community and funding from the United Way of Marion County — go for the purchase of food.

“We’re unique in that we’re an all-volunteer organization, and the money that comes in from the United Way or donations goes to buy food,” Morris said.

Most food is bought through the Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway, although some items are purchased at area stores.

Some area groups have reported that the economy has slowed donations down, but that has not been a problem at Mannington Food Pantry. However, more families have been requesting help, Morris said.

“We serve around 300 to 320 families a month,” she said. “That averages out to 75 to 80 families a week.”

In the past few months, however, eight to 10 more families have requested help. “Last month, we had about 15 new ones that came in,” Morris said. “In the last few months, it’s increased. We used to get one or two new families a month.”

Also, two weeks ago, when the food pantry gave out turkeys to families, it gave out 281. “That’s up from about 50 last year,” Morris said.

The Rev. Greg Roth serves as president of the Mannington Ministerial Association, whose members help run the food pantry. Sometimes, he said, people wait too long to ask for help and then the problem has become larger than what the food pantry can handle.

“We just helped a lady who had to miss some work,” Roth said. “We found out about the need and we helped her so she wouldn’t get arrears and wouldn’t get behind. We were able to help her while the need was still low. Had she waited another month or two, we wouldn’t have been able to meet that need.”

Now that the holidays season has arrived, food pantry volunteers have more work. In addition to families seeking help with food supplements, they also can receive baskets of household and toiletry items as well as toys for children at Christmas.

Toys will be passed out Dec. 10 and baskets will be given out on Dec. 24, Morris said.

“We have several donations from businesses in town that we buy toys with,” Morris said.

Toys and baskets can go to anyone who needs them, but the monthly food supplements given out every week go to families that qualify.

“We have an application that they have to fill out and we need a photo I.D. to verify their residence and we have to have a Social Security card to have proof of their income,” Morris said.

Most people come from the Mannington area or surrounding areas, although some come from over the border in Wetzel County if Mannington is closer than New Martinsville, and some come from Harrison County.

The food pantry gets about 75-80 percent of funding from the United Way while the rest comes from donations. Both have been going well, Morris said.

“If things continue, we may have a problem in the future, but right now, things are holding steady,” she said. “People are really generous.”

E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.