Blessing Pantry works to fill community need
NEW BREMEN — Eighteen volunteers make up the staff of the Blessing Pantry located at St. Paul United Church of Christ in New Bremen and each plays a pivotal role in keeping things going.
Pantry Coordinator Beth Bretz, who began with the pantry last fall, spoke to members of the New Bremen New Knoxville Rotary Club on Tuesday morning about the work the pantry does and the help it provides to New Bremen and surrounding communities.
“It’s been a privilege to be the coordinator and to see the generosity of the community and the partnerships that we’ve created with the businesses in the area as well,” she said. “It’s a volunteer-driven mission whose purpose is to provide basic food and other necessities free of charge to local families in need. We want to be that supplemental need for these families that just can’t make ends meet.”
What began several years ago as a wooden cabinet full of toiletries located inside the north doors of the church has since been developed into a full-on pantry offering food and other necessities to those that need it.
The group of 18 volunteers work to make everything go, including shopping for supplies and reaching out to local businesses to partner with.
“It takes all 18 of us to make this happen,” said Bretz. “Being a volunteer at the pantry is something we’re always looking for. We meet quarterly to discuss any issues going on and to try and improve anything or if there’s an outstanding need at the time we can discuss that.”
Bretz called the last six months she’s served as coordinator “eye opening.”
She explained how they used to be affiliated with West Ohio Food Bank, but that relationship has since ended which allows the pantry to serve more people.
“We used to check IDs and know exactly where people were coming from when we were affiliated with the West Ohio Food Bank,” she said. “We decided as a group, if you’re here and you have a need as a family, we’re happy to serve you. We don’t need to know where you’re coming from — if you’re walking through our doors in need, we’re here to serve you.”
Bretz said the pantry serves neighbors ranging from the local communities to people that live 30 miles away, who utilize the pantry after they get off work, if they work nearby.
“We serve, on average, 120 people per month, which comes out to about 31 families each month,” said Bretz. “Those families can range from elderly folks on a tight budget to a single mom with five kids — those families look like you and I. A lot of times it’s situational need. We have families that have catastrophic things happen like a tree falls on their house and the insurance hasn’t paid out. The stories are endless as you can imagine.”
Bretz said the average cost to keep the pantry stocked is roughly $970 per month.
“It’s roughly $31 per family to give them what they need to supplement. I don’t know about you, but I spend way more than $31 a month,” said Bretz. “That tells you that we have an incredible partnership with a lot of organizations in the area that supply to stock our pantry.”
Bretz spoke highly of those area businesses which include: Danone in Minster where volunteers from the pantry go every couple of weeks and “get as much as yogurt as our little fridge can hold” and Call Ministries in Celina who shares any excess items with the New Bremen-based pantry.
Bretz called the pantry’s relationship with Gel’s IGA in St. Henry “phenomenal.”
“They took it upon themselves last year to create a way for their customers to very easily do
nate to our pantry. They collected $5 worth of groceries, put them in a grocery bag and stapled it and put them right at the front of their entrance,” explained Bretz. “Anybody walking in could just pick up a grocery sack and do their grocery shopping — but when they check out, they put our grocery bag aside and that all gets donated to us. The response to that has been van loads of rice, canned goods and cleaning supplies. It’s awesome. We can’t thank them enough.”
The pantry will soon be partnering with Agape Distribution in Sidney.
“They’re a huge operation and we can benefit from getting their excess as well,” said Bretz.
“It’s just kind of another opportunity to tap into a big warehouse of supplies.”
Slowly but surely the pantry is meeting it’s ever-growing list of needs. The New Bremen New Knoxville Rotary Club donated a large freezer to the pantry last year and Bretz said they’re set to take ownership of a large refrigerator when it arrives.
“We just needed something a little larger,” she said.
If someone is unable to pick up items from the pantry, the church is happy to deliver them.
“If you need food, we’re going to get it on your doorstep,” said Senior Pastor Becky Erb-Strang. “We make that happen.”
Bretz was asked why some clients come from out of town with ErbStrang replying that some larger pantries have limits on how many times per month someone can visit.
“An awful lot of pantries have a rule where you can only show up once a month. Also, if you’re affiliated with West Ohio Food Bank, you can only go to the pantry in the county you live in,” she explained. “Sometimes the food you get from other pantries on a once-a-month basis is simply not enough. We’re the fill-in-the-gaps people. Because we’re located right where Shelby, Mercer and Auglaize meet, the word is out in all three of those counties about us.”
Following Bretz’s talk, Rotarians took a tour of the pantry and the club donated this month’s “happy dollars” — a total of $345 — to the pantry. Bretz said that money would be enough to serve 10 families.
The club also recently donated $6,000 to help with efforts in Ukraine.