JCEO food pantry reopens for walk-ins

PLATTSBURGH | For the first time since before the pandemic, the Joint Council for Economic Opportunity at Clinton and Franklin Counties (JCEO) reopened its food pantry to walk-ins, Feb. 1. It originally moved to appointment-based to limit contact for the safety of its employees and consumers. After COVID-19 restrictions lessened, they began construction to expand the pantry so they continued to be appointments only. The construction is set to be done by the beginning of March. The addition will allow the pantry to include clothing and household goods, donated by Target, Walmart and the community. In the meantime, the food section of the pantry is fully functional. Lisa Goodrow, JCEO community outreach program director, said there are pros and cons to both appointments and walk-ins. "Appointment-based is a little more personalized and it gives you a little bit more time to walk through and it's not as crowded downstairs," she said. "However, the problem is there is such a need in the community that we were not able to serve as many people by doing the appointments, and we want to make sure we're serving everyone that we can in a day's time." Being able to walk in will remove the complications of scheduling, allowing JCEO to serve more people. "Right now, being appointment-based, things happen, things come up," Goodrow said. You also have the aspect of playing phone tag." The food for the pantry comes from a variety of sources. JCEO has a grant through the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and receives some funding from the City of Plattsburgh, but they also rely heavily on donations from the community. Organizations and businesses set up food drives for them. Many individuals contribute as well. "There are a lot of people that contribute to us," Goodrow said. "A lot of monetary donations, sometimes regularly, throughout the months, that allow us to purchase foods that we don't get through the Regional Food Bank, some things that aren't necessarily food staple items like condiments or gravy packets or snacks for kids." Goodrow said there is a couple that gives about $500 worth of groceries during the holiday season in lieu of buying each other gifts. To qualify to use the food pantry, JCEO looks to the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP), Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) and Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) for guidelines. Individuals who aren't sure if they qualify are always welcome to stop by or call to find out. "For the most part, if you're coming into the food pantry, it's a hard decision on its own to make and it takes a lot of courage to ask for help," Goodrow said. "We try to make the process as less intrusive as possible." As walk-ins resume, JCEO is looking for more volunteers. "Not only does it allow people to give back to the community, but also some of our volunteers are the hardest working people I've ever seen," Goodrow said. "They're very reliable and dependable and just really enjoy giving back to the community, so we're just looking to get more people who are eager to do that." She said it's humbling to see the hard work and determination their volunteers put in. JCEO recently started using Helper Helper, an app that shows what type of volunteer work they need and allows people to sign up through the app. Volunteers complete tasks like restocking, packing boxes, pick-ups and cleaning. Last year 2,970 families and 6,607 individuals in Clinton County used the food pantry. 10,789 households received fresh foods that don't count toward allotted food pantry visits. Goodrow said these numbers and the numbers from the last few years are way lower than pre-pandemic numbers. "Due to the pandemic, extra food stamps were given and schools delivered lunches to families," Goodrow said. "I think all the extra programs put our numbers down." There are currently food pantries in Altona, Keeseville, Blackbrook, Champlain, Chazy, Dannamora, Ellenberg, Peru, Saranac, Schuyler Falls and the town of Plattsburgh. The Margaret Street location is the largest pantry and provides food to these other, smaller ones across the county. For more information visit https://www.jceo.org/.

Signup for our newsletter

JCEO food pantry reopens for walk-ins

COMPANY

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

SUBMISSION FORMS

BEYOND THE NEWS