Volunteers work in the Interchurch Food Pantry warehouse in November 2021. Interchurch Food Pantry received a $38,000 grant from Johnson County out of its American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Daily Journal file photo
The county commissioners recently awarded nine local food pantries grants using federal pandemic relief dollars.
The pantries were awarded a combined total of around $98,000, out of $100,000 the county had set aside for the grants. This money comes from the pool of $31 million Johnson County received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act in 2021.
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved and announced the pantries receiving grants at their Dec. 19 meeting.
The nine pantries awarded include: Edinburgh Food Pantry, $1,832; Great Harvest Food Pantry in New Whiteland, $22,785; Harvest Food Pantry at Saint Francis and Clare, $1,195; Interchurch Food Pantry, $38,729; Johnson County Senior Services, $15,405; New Life Fellowship Church of God in Whiteland, $29.40; Our Lady of the Greenwood Food Pantry, $8,428; The Hub in Franklin, $6,889; and The Refuge in Greenwood, $2,704.
Getting to the point to award the grants is a result of a months-long process of county officials and the Johnson County Community Foundation working out how to divide up the money and how to get it to pantries that qualify.
The $100,000 for the grant program was originally approved in June by the county ARPA committee, which is made up of the three commissioners and three members of the Johnson County Council. The commissioners and council later approved allocating the money shortly after it went through the ARPA committee, but work on the application process took months.
Ron Deer, county council member, spearheaded the project, leading the way to come up with an application process. He worked for months with the county attorney and the Johnson County Community Foundation on the process and the applications for food pantries to fill out to receive money.
Discussions continued at ARPA committee meetings between June and December, where members discussed how the money would be divided amongst the food pantries that applied. There were questions if the money could be distributed evenly to those who applied, or calculated based on each pantry’s size and need.
Johnson County Community Foundation came in as a third party to help take grant applications and administer that process. Officials determined the best route to remain equitable was to divide grants up based on size and need. The pantries were evaluated using a formula to show how many people each served in a 34-month period.
Deer during this process advocated that there was a need to help local food pantries, as many have seen increases in the number of people they serve, he said.
“The demand is actually 14% higher than it was in 2021. For example, Interchurch Food Pantry in their documentation, they talked about 60% increase in demand … it’s very definite the need is there,” Deer said.
Deer did not see the entire process to the end, due to some personal medical issues, he said. But he was glad to see the work come to fruition.
“I appreciate what the commissioners are considering doing, and everything we’ve worked on on this,” Deer said.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated Great Harvest Food Pantry received $2,275. It has been updated to reflect the correct number of $22,785. The corrected number brings the total grants to $98,000.
