Volunteers Lorin Lee, left, and Barbara Lee stock shelves inside the IMPACT Center at Mount Pleasant Christian Church on Dec. 7. The Center Grove-area food and clothing ministry is one of many in the county helping address food insecurity and in need of support.
RYAN TRARES | DAILY JOURNAL
Volunteers methodically moved among shelves and coolers, unloading boxes of cereal, boxes of instant rice and packages of fresh lunch meat.
Lettuce, bananas, cucumbers and other produce were sorted and separated out. Pasta and sauce, canned soup and bags of coffee had been arranged on their proper shelf.
The volunteers worked with purpose throughout the IMPACT Center. Everything had to be ready for the rush expected the next day, when nearly 300 families would be served through the food and clothing ministry of Mount Pleasant Christian Church.
“Everybody can be struggling either with the price of rent or the price of gas or food, utilities, everything in general,” said Steve Saunders, IMPACT Center pastor. “People will leave here with a bare minimum of $100 — probably closer to $150 — worth of food each week.”
Food pantries such as the IMPACT Center are feeling the squeeze this holiday season. Need remains at an all-time high among many food pantries throughout Johnson County, as agencies look for ways to support the food insecure during the holidays and beyond.
Community generosity is helping pack the pantries with non-perishable food and fresh items such as produce, milk, eggs and fresh meat.
Still, with the high cost of food squeezing families this year, agencies are working to ensure that the food insecure are supported through the long winter, when needs are heightened because of high heating costs and holiday expenses.
“We’re seeing record-breaking numbers of families needing assistance,” said Carol Phipps, executive director of the Interchurch Food Pantry, in late November.
Food insecurity has been growing over the past five years throughout Johnson County, exasperated by the COVID-19 pandemic and now the rising food costs affecting the entire country.
According to Feeding America, an organization aiming to reduce hunger and increase access to healthy food, Johnson County has 15,200 food insecure people living in it, including 4,150 children.
Ensuring those people have the food they need falls to the network of pantries and food ministries working together.
The largest of those efforts comes at the Interchurch Food Pantry, which has been dedicated to alleviating hunger in the Johnson County community for 39 years. In 2021, the pantry distributed the equivalent of 1 million meals to an average of 1,736 households per month. The pantry served 20,827 households last year.
They anticipate 33,000 household visits by the end of 2022, equating to well over 1.5 million meals and 3 million pounds of food distributed, Phipps said.
Johnson County Senior Services has made combating food insecurity one of its primary focuses. Nearly 1,900 older adults in the county live in a food desert, without ready access to nutritious food, according to the State of Aging in Central Indiana report.
Indiana has the 12th most seniors who are food insecure in the country, said Kimberly Smith, executive director of Johnson County Senior Services.
The needs of seniors are growing exponentially,” she said. “With the rising cost of food, medicine, and personal products etc. an unspeakable strain has been put on already challenged budgets.”
The agency’s food pantry provides nonperishable food and household items to help supplement needed essentials to seniors, with volunteers delivering the food order once a request is made.
In addition, bi-weekly bulk deliveries are made to several locations throughout the county.
Many older adults can no longer afford protein so the agency is receiving many calls requesting meat, eggs, nuts, peanut butter, tuna and other protein-rich foods, Smith said. They also have many older adults with dietary restrictions so grocery store gift cards are very helpful in purchasing needed items that they may not have in the pantry.
“It is heart-wrenching that this amazing generation continues to be the most underfunded, underserved and most unappreciated, precious souls throughout our county and beyond. They deserve so much better,” Smith said.
Elsewhere, other food pantries are working to meet the needs of families and individuals, particularly as winter closes in.
The IMPACT Center was formed in 2013 as a ministry to use donations of food, clothing and household items brought in by the church to help and develop relationships with the people they serve, Saunders said.
Every Thursday and Saturday, the center opens up its doors to people in need of assistance. They can receive food once a week, and clothing once a month.
“We take that time to connect with people, allow them to share their story if they’re comfortable doing that,” Saunders said. “For some people, it’s a difficult transition, difficult to even admit that they need to come here.”
The pantry spends between $10,000 and $12,000 each month to purchase fresh food for clients, while other goods are provided by Midwest Food Bank, and donations from businesses such as Meijer, Walmart and Kroger. People also tend to host food drives generating non-perishable and canned food goods, Saunders said.
“This time of year, there are a lot of community food drives, and we have relationships with schools, so they make significant donations, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he said.
Because of the attention on holiday giving, most food pantries are taken care of in December. After the start of the new year, and extending through the winter, is when it can get difficult.
Donations of items such as diapers and other household goods that federal assistance doesn’t pay for are always needed. Large coats, and other warm weather gear, also tends to constantly be in short supply, Saunders said.
Monetary donations are a great way for the ministry to ensure people’s needs for nutritious, fresh food are being met, Saunders said.
And all of the pantries in the county are working together to meet demand.
“We work really closely with the other Johnson County pantries. There is a food coalition that meets once a quarter. We try to support each other, if we have an abundance of things or vice-versa, we can share those things and serve as many people in the area that we can,” Saunders said.
Where to get help or donate
CHRIST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH FOOD PANTRY
Location: 8540 U.S. 31 S., Indianapolis
Hours: 9 to 11 a.m. Thursdays
Eligibility: Marion County residents and Johnson County residents in who have 46142 and 46143 area codes
Information: 317-882-1549
EDINBURGH FOOD PANTRY
Location: 110 E. Main Cross St., downtown Edinburgh
Hours: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. first Saturday and third Thursday.
Eligibility: All are welcome
Information: 812-344-1433
GRACE POINT CHURCH
Location: 330 W. Whiteland Road, New Whiteland – 317-535-3512
Hours: 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays
Eligibility: No residency restrictions, bring a photo ID or current utility bill or mail.
THE HUB
An outreach of Impact Christian Church
Location: 2800 N. Graham Road, Franklin
Hours: Tuesdays 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Food, clothing, household items available. Donations also accepted.
Information: contact: ICC at 317-346-0452 and Hub coordinator at 317-868-2619
INTERCHUCH FOOD PANTRY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
Location: 211 Commerce Drive, Franklin
Hours: Noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 to 11 a.m. second and fourth Saturdays
Households served once a week in a drive-through, menu approach. Open to all people, regardless of residency. Homebound households in Johnson County can receive food 2 times a month by signing up at www.jcpantry.org
Donations: Accepted during hours of operation
Information: 317-736-5090, [email protected]
JOHNSON COUNTY SENIOR SERVICES
Location: 36 W. County Road 600 N., Whiteland – 317-738-4544
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Delivery is also available
Eligibility: Johnson County resident who must be older than 60 or younger than 60 with a disability.
LORD’S LOCKER
Location: 101 S. Pleasant St., Trafalgar
Open: Wednesdays: 9 to 11 a.m. for senior citizens (over 60 only). 1 p.m. for heads of household (clients 40 to 59 years). Thursdays: 6 p.m. for heads of household (ages 20 to 39 years).
Donations: Accepted 9 a.m. to noon Monday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday; 9 a.m. to noon the third Saturday of every month
Eligibility: Should bring a photo ID; social security number; a current paid receipt of a utility, rent or mortgage with current address (P.O. boxes not accepted).
Information: Call for more information: 317-878-7708
MOUNT PLEASANT CHRISTIAN CHURCH IMPACT CENTER
Location: 381 N. Bluff Road, Greenwood
Hours: Thursdays: 9:15 to 9:40 a.m.; 12:15 to 12:40 p.m.; 6:15 to 6:40 p.m. and Saturdays 9:15 to 9:40 a.m.
Donations: Items may be dropped off 9 a.m. to noon Monday-Tuesday and 9-11 a.m. Saturday.
Eligibility: Adults: photo ID and two pieces of mail with the current address; dependents under age 18, birth certificate or Social Security card.
Information: 317-881-6727 ext. 282
OUR LADY OF THE GREENWOOD
Location: 335 S. Meridian St., Greenwood
Open: 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 4 to 5:45 p.m. Wednesday; open fourth Saturday of each month from noon to 2 p.m.
Donations: Patrons can make donations at the red cart inside the back door of the church between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Eligibility: Recipients must provide proof of residence with photo ID and must be income qualified depending on household size.
Information: 317-888-2861
THE REFUGE
Location: 1150 S. Park Drive, Greenwood
Open: 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays
Donations: Accepted during office or pantry hours
Eligibility: All residents living in Johnson County may visit once per month
Information: 317-889-7338
SS. FRANCIS AND CLARE PARISH HARVEST
Location: 5901 Olive Branch Road, Greenwood – 317-859-4673
*Due to COVID-19 only offering drive up service until further notice.
Open: 9 a.m. to noon on the second and fourth Saturday of the month; 10 a.m. to noon second Wednesday of each month; 5 to 7 p.m. fourth Monday of the month
Donations: Donations can bring during operating hours of pantry 9 a.m. to noon second and fourth Saturday.
Eligibility: All residents of Johnson and Morgan counties may visit the pantry once a month. Recipients must bring proof of residency and a picture ID.
THE SOCIAL OF GREENWOOD
Location: 550 Polk Street, Greenwood – 317-882-4810
Hours: 10 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Thursdays
Eligibility: One visit per person per week. There are no requirements.
Information: Check website for updates, thesocialofgreenwood.org
