We had a wonderful donation yesterday from a gentleman I’d never met before in my life. (He) brought in food, brought in a check. We’ll see where that goes. I think people are stepping up. – Linda Bowyer
Normally, food pantries do not distribute large quantities of French fries or gallons of bagged milk.
But these aren’t normal times.
Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has forced the closure of dine-in food services, the Burton Food Cupboard — part of the Burton Congregational Church — has received unique donations from local restaurants.
However, essential products once easily accessible, like toilet paper and flour, have become scarce.
Despite COVID-19 disrupting typical day-to-day life, Geauga County food pantries and the Geauga County Department on Aging continue to serve citizens.
The Burton Food Cupboard is one of the largest providers of food pantry services in the county, according to the Geauga Hunger Task Force.
Last February, the cupboard served 283 households and a total of 814 individuals – 161 of who were seniors – said food coordinator Andrew Baker in an email.
In the week of March 15, Baker said 87 households were served.
Ida’s Cupboard, a pantry at Pilgrim Christian Church in Chardon, serves on average 20 households per week.
Linda Bowyer, captain of Ida’s Cupboard, expects they will serve more households in the coming weeks as unemployment increases. Both Bowyer and Baker said they noticed an increase in the number of new households utilizing the food cupboards’ services.
The Geauga County Department on Aging offers free services like congregate meals and home food delivery for seniors. These services provide seniors both meals and socialization, especially for homebound clients.
The department served 669 seniors through their congregate meal program and 496 homebound seniors in their home delivered meals program in 2019, said GCDOA Director Jessica Boalt in an email, adding that equated to 14,289 congregate meals and 59,969 home delivered meals.
Modifying Services
Both food cupboards modified their food handout processes to comply with government recommendations regarding the coronavirus pandemic the week of March 15. On that Sunday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the closure of all sit-in restaurants.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, clients at the Burton Food Cupboard entered the cupboard to fill out paperwork. Then, a client and volunteer “shopped” for food within the cupboard by pulling food directly from shelves and filling a shopping cart, Baker explained in a phone interview.
Now, clients fill out paperwork and a shopping list of available food in the cupboard from their cars.
Without clients in the pantry, volunteers can spread out to ensure proper social distancing.
Sometimes, when the cupboard receives unique donations, such as French fries or gallons of bagged milk, volunteers set up a stand in the parking lot for clients to select from.
Burton Food Cupboard volunteers are taking precautions by using rubber gloves, sanitizing all touched surfaces and checking the temperatures of volunteers, Baker said.
The food cupboard has plans for serving individuals who are homebound due to being quarantined or considered high-risk. With proper paperwork, these individuals can send a proxy to pick up food and deliver it.
“Somebody can actually go and get the food for somebody that is housebound,” Baker said. “We’re trying to anticipate all different possibilities and be available the best way we can.”
At Ida’s Cupboard, clients are also no longer allowed to enter the church for safety reasons.
“Now, they come to the door and that’s where it stops,” Bowyer said.
The main door to the food cupboard is locked with a sign instructing clients to knock. A volunteer hands them paperwork and a shopping list of the available food in the cupboard.
“My husband and I stood (inside the pantry) and wrote down everything we have, to a point,” Bowyer said.
She’s also made an add-on list of the produce items clients normally select themselves.
As for the new process, Bowyer said, “it’s not chaotic, but it takes more people inside.”
The GCDOA has made small adjustments to the congregate meal and home food delivery services to comply with government and health department recommendations. However, some services have been canceled completely.
As of March 16, the department ceased all face-to-face consultations and nonemergency appointments for seniors. DeWine announced the closure of all senior centers and adult day service centers March 20.
The GCDOA’s congregate meal service was previously offered at four different senior centers across Geauga County. Instead of a dine-in service, it has been changed to curbside pick-up.
“We’ve never had a curbside service, so we had to make that modification,” Boalt said.
Home food delivery service has not needed modifications for food preparation.
“We have always practiced proper infection control. We do have licensed kitchen facilities, so infection control is ingrained in us,” Boalt said.
However, home food delivery service drivers no longer meet inside the department’s facilities to pick up meals. Drivers enter a kitchen facility one at a time to pick up meals.
“It’s very typical for our (food delivery) volunteers to converse briefly with our clients and certainly check on their wellbeing,” Boalt said.
Now, those volunteers are encouraged “to maintain safe distances while delivering food,” she said.
The department is performing welfare checks and socialization to clients through phone calls rather than in person.
Community Contributions
Ida’s Cupboard and the Burton Food Cupboard both receive donations from the Cleveland Food Bank, library collections, school food drives, the Geauga County food network and local churches.
Despite many of these organizations being closed, Bowyer said she believes donations will increase.
“We had a wonderful donation yesterday from a gentleman I’d never met before in my life. (He) brought in food, brought in a check,” Bowyer said. “We’ll see where that goes. I think people are stepping up.”
However, both pantries have had shortages in once common goods like toilet paper and flour. For the Burton Food Cupboard, toilet paper is normally supplied by the Cleveland Food Bank, Baker said.
“This week, they didn’t have any available because of the temporary shortages,” he said.
Both Baker and Bowyer said food cupboard volunteers usually purchase flour at area stores. This week, they saw shortages of flour in stores like Aldi, Save-A-Lot, Walmart and Marc’s.
In a Facebook post March 17, the GCDOA responded to community interest in support of seniors by listing what grocery items their clients were in need of.
“We became aware that many of our seniors did not have some of their essential needs met. They needed some nutritional supplementation, as well as personal care items,” Boalt said.
The following day, the department called for letters, artwork or cards made by local students for seniors in another Facebook post.
“The Geauga County Department on Aging needs some uplifting artwork and letters from our school students to bring a little sunshine to our seniors,” the Facebook post said.
Any community member can drop off art or letters in box within the GCDOA lobby.
Every Friday, art and letters will be removed from the box and “rest” for 48 hours so any possible coronavirus will die.
On Monday, the volume of donations will be assessed for distribution, Boalt said, adding the department has received calls from local nursing homes for art and letters, and clients of the GCDOA may receive some of the donations. The artwork may also be shared digitally.
Volunteering
Both pantries have less volunteers due to the coronavirus. Volunteers at high-risk for serious symptoms from the virus were instructed by the cupboards’ coordinators not to continue to volunteer.
Baker said many new volunteers outside the high-risk age range have contacted the Burton Food Cupboard to serve.
Due to the loss of volunteers and the new food handout process, the Burton Food Cupboard is only open four days a week instead of five, cutting out its Thursday night service. Currently, the food cupboard is open from 9-11 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
For each shift, it has about seven to eight volunteers.
Bowyer specifically told her volunteers in the high-risk age range not to come in.
“We’ve asked them not to come up and I have these ladies who have been here every day because we’re down to a skeleton crew of volunteers,” Bowyer said.
She gestured to a table of three women. Some of the volunteers lost their day jobs due to government issued closures.
Ida’s Cupboard is open Monday from 4-6 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30-11:30 a.m. and Friday from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Before the coronavirus, about three volunteers ran a shift at the cupboard and only worked once a week.
“We got the same people working five days a week,” Bowyer said. “Right now, we’re taking it one day at a time. That’s all we can do.”
Boalt said the GCDOA number of volunteers has not been greatly impacted by the coronavirus.
However, many community members have reached out to the department offering their help if needed.
“Additional individuals giving us a call and asking how they can help is very helpful,” she said. “We’re able to maintain a list. If and when we need them in other capacities, we’re able to reach out and give them a call.”
How to Help
The Burton Food Cupboard is located at 14558 West Park St. in Burton. For those interested in volunteering, call Al Sajewski at 440-567-2659. More information can be found at https://www.burtonucc.com/food-cupboard.
Ida’s Cupboard is located at 202 S. Hambden St. in Chardon.
Individuals interested in volunteering can contact the Pilgrim Christian Church at 440)-285-8791.
The GCDOA is located at 470 Center St, Building #2 in Chardon.
To contact the main office, call 440)-279-2130.Seniors interested in the curbside congregate meal service can contact their local senior center. Seniors interested in the home delivered meals service can contact 440-279-2138 to see if they qualify for the service.
The department also regularly posts on Facebook how community members can help.
