Lines outside the Spartan Community Center of Hazelwood are common on the first Saturday of every month. Recently, the lines have come with some abnormal volume.
“We actually had a really long line this morning,” Rachel Pinto-Martin, a volunteer with the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, said on Saturday.
Evelyn Higgs, of Hazelwood, said she does not come to the community center often, but her current situation made Saturday’s visit necessary.
“I don’t have food stamps, so I gotta go someplace,” Higgs said.
The center turns into a food pantry monthly. It’s a former school building, and it normally serves around 100 families each time.
Saturday, organizers expected about 150 families. Eggs, milk, frozen meat, vegetables, and baked goods were just some of the things available for people in need to take. Even pet food was available.
“Everybody will get a turkey gift card and as much food as we can give them,” Tom Burnett, operating manager of Fishes and Loaves Cooperative Ministries, said. “It’s probably a week or 10 days’ worth of food for them.”
That’s an important supply right now. Burnett said most of their people rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. With SNAP benefits in limbo, demand for emergency food boxes has gone up, too.
“Typically, during the year, we’ll maybe give out three or five boxes a week,” Burnett said. “We’ve already given nine in this past week.”
They’re troubling numbers, especially with the holidays not that far away.
“It just feels so unkind,” Pinto-Martin said.