SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Food pantries across Central New York are experiencing an increase in distribution. The greater need for food and other household items has led to changes in how local community centers and food pantries operate.
The Westcott Community Center doubled its total number of distribution days in April. In the previous months, the center held two distribution days per month, but lines out the door caused a shift from the center. Now the center is considering having six distribution days each month to keep up, said Joan Royle, the executive director at Westcott Community Center.
Increasing the days of distribution means that Westcott Community Center needs to increase its spending on resources, Royle said.
“It’s caused us to have to look for additional funding streams to support our food program,” Royle said.
Local residents have contributed resources to the center and more volunteers from the surrounding neighborhoods have helped the food pantry keep up with the increased volume.
The Hendricks Chapel food pantry at Syracuse University has also experienced an increase in people needing items. Over approximately the last year and a half, the pantry has seen an uptick from 30 to 150 students, said Leondra Tyler, the student coordinator at Hendricks Chapel.
The increase in distribution has been difficult for the Hendricks Chapel food pantry to maintain a sufficient number of household items and vegetarian foods, Tyler said.
“We definitely could use a lot of home and health items, so think like body soap, toothpaste, deodorant, dish soap and then also a lot of vegetarian items especially like vegetarian soups, vegetarian meat alternatives like tofu, canned jackfruit and stuff like that,” Tyler said.
The increased reliance on food pantries is affecting many communities across Central New York and the United States, said Royle.
