Demand outpacing supply at Community Circle Food Pantry
Melanie Wolfe remembers a time back in the 1990s when she needed some help.
“I went to Community Circle Food Pantry, but back then you had to be referred through the Department of Welfare. You just didn’t go to a pantry,” recalls Wolfe, who has been Director of Operations at Community Circle Food Pantry for eight years. “It’s changed now, but back then you had to have a referral. It was around the holidays, and they were giving out gift cards. I had six kids, and they told me, ‘Well, you should have been here in September.’ And I was like, well, I didn’t need help in September. I need help now. I vowed then that if I were ever in that position, I would treat people with respect and not like a number.”
She has made good on that promise and started volunteering at the food pantry in 2005 along with her husband and children. “I guess I’m meant to be where I’m at,” she said.
Community Circle Food Pantry helps feed hundreds of families across Washington County with each distribution and are the recipients of this month’s Driven By Hope Award, sponsored by Washington Auto Mall.
A few years ago, the pantry moved to 70 E. Beau Street, Warehouse 1, in Washington, a block from its former location of eight years. The last few years brought even more changes. The pantry used to partner with the Washington Food Bank, but Washington County commissioners changed course and decided to dedicate state-allocated food grant funding to the Pittsburgh Food Bank, which also serves Washington County.
“A lot of people have a little bit of misconception about that,” explains Wolfe. “They hold our state food grant; we never see it. They hold it and the only place you can spend it is with them.” That means food has to be trucked from Pittsburgh to Washington to stock the pantry’s shelves, and that costs money.
“We actually have to pay for our food to be brought to us,” says Wolfe. “It’s $75 every time I get a truck. There’s a grant right now covering that, but once that grant’s gone, we’re back to paying it, and we get two trucks per month. We’re back to paying it because we barely have any food; families just wiped us out. I told them they may have to deliver to me weekly because I can’t keep up with the demand.”
Wolfe says while Thanksgiving usually brings donations and funding for turkeys, the state grant money does not provide for Christmas or Easter hams. She organizes fundraisers to cover those special purchases to help families provide a holiday meal.
On any given week, those who qualify through the state of Pennsylvania’s income requirements can expect a pre-packaged box of food will be waiting for them if supplies don’t dwindle.
“We are open three days a week, every week,” says Wolfe.
Oftentimes, the need is overwhelming. “Our numbers were around 200 a month during COVID and went to 400 since then,” Wolfe says. “Since we are not a once-a-month pantry, we see a good bit of people weekly that are coming, the same people every week. Obviously, there’s a need, because what we give is not high-quality food – it’s spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, tuna fish, cereal. It’s just to sustain them so they don’t go hungry.”
Another misconception is that the pantry only helps those in the city.
“We help the whole county,” Wolfe said. “We have clients that are in California, Burgettstown, anywhere in Washington County.”
The best way the community can help Community Circle’s efforts is by donating money or food. “There are a couple different ways to help,” says Wolfe. “The first one is to do a food drive because I can’t go to the local store when we run out of food and buy bulk. If you watch our Facebook page, I’m always telling folks what we need.”
The other way to help is to donate and be specific that it goes directly to the Community Circle Food Pantry. You can find information on how to do both at https://www.facebook.com/communitycirclefoodpantry/.
The organization holds fundraisers through the year with the biggest being an annual cash bash each fall that helps with money to pay rent, insurance and utility bills.
“People need to eat … and I’ve been there,” Wolfe says. “I feel for people. I know the problem of going in there and seeing someone being nasty and saying you should get a job. It’s not about having a job. It’s about struggling. I think that in order to do this job, you have to have struggled sometime in your life.”