Stepping Stones considering “pop-up” food pantry for Colfax
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Stepping Stones of Dunn County, a non-profit organization out of Menomonie which has been providing food, shelter and support to area residents since 1986, is considering starting a “pop-up” food pantry in Colfax.
Bobbette Tunnyhill, the coordinator for the Dunn County elderly nutrition program, and Kris Pawlowski, the assistant director at Stepping Stones and the food pantry coordinator, spoke to the Merry Mixers senior citizens group at their May 2 meeting about the possibility of a pop-up food pantry.
The Dunn County senior nutrition program and Stepping Stones have been working together on food distribution, and so far this year, 300 food bags have been sent out to people living in the Colfax and Wheeler area, Tunnyhill said.
“That has been so successful [Pawlowski] called me and asked what I thought about a pop-up food pantry. I know they are already doing one in Sand Creek and one in Ridgeland … (and) we want to do what’s right for the community,” she said.
A pop-up food pantry is a temporary pantry that is set up, is open and available for one hour, and then is taken down again, Pawlowski explained.
Pawlowski said she was aware there was a monthly food distribution in Colfax up until last fall.
The Colfax Community Cares Food Pantry provided monthly food distribution at the former nursing home on High Street and served about 60 families each month but ceased distribution at the end of the year.
Colfax also has an emergency food pantry — the Caring Ministries Food Pantry at Colfax United Methodist. People can access the emergency food pantry twice each year by appointment.
Colfax United Methodist Church coordinates the Support for Sunday backpack program for school children as well.
“We are trying to provide better access to people as they need it … Before we started the pop-up pantries, we tried to do remote food pantries in Downsville, Sand Creek and Ridgeland, where we have a mini-pantry set up in the low income/elderly apartment units that we stock twice a month. But that’s only available for those residents. We wanted to expand that to a pop-up pantry,” Pawlowski said.
“Twice a month, we go to Sand Creek and Ridgeland. It’s a one-hour distribution. Our driver shows up, and we have a volunteer waiting there for them. They unload the food and set it up, and folks can come in for that hour and take what they know they can use for their household,” she said.
Sand Creek has had as many as 12 households come each month and as few as one. The Sand Creek pop-up food pantry started in December.
“In Ridgeland, we are getting at least a dozen households every time we are there. We’d like to be able to offer an option for folks in the Colfax area for the same type of thing,” Pawlowski said.
A pop-up food pantry would need a location, but it would not require any administration by anyone locally, she said.
Nothing would be stored on the site of the pop-up food pantry, “and we take care of all of the details,” Pawlowski said.
The pop-up food pantry is available to people regardless of age or income level. If they need the food, they are welcome to come to the pop-up food pantry, Pawlowski said.
A volunteer from the community also keeps a “log” of who is using the food pantry, but the log does not contain any names, just how many people and how many are in each family, she said.
Sand Creek and Ridgeland are on the first and third Thursdays, so Pawlowski said she would be considering Colfax and Downsville on the second and fourth Thursdays.
Pawlowski picked Thursdays for the pop-up food pantries because Stepping Stones receives shipments from Feed My People on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Wednesday delivery works out well because the food can be ready to be sent out to the pop-up food pantries the next day, she said.
Stepping Stones does weekend food bags for the summer on weekends for families enrolled in Head Start during the summer, Pawlowski noted.
Pawlowski said if she could find a suitable site in Colfax, she would plan to start the pop-up food pantry this summer.
Members of the Merry Mixers discussed several possible locations for the pop-up food pantry in Colfax.
Pawlowski said she would check out some of the options and then bring the information back to the Merry Mixers for additional discussion and input.
Stepping Stones does not plan to solicit donations from local people for the pop-up food pantry. The organization has been around for 30 years and has a variety of resources available, she said.