A local nonprofit group has opened a new food pantry in East Waco to give residents in the area access to healthy and nutritious food.

The pantry is run by Just As I Am Ministries, a nonprofit group that operates four houses across the city for long-term housing for people transitioning off drug or alcohol addiction.

When a local businessman donated two buildings at the corner of Kellum and Deshong Smith streets to the organization, Dr. Patricia Iglehart, the ministries’ executive director, decided a food pantry would be the best way to serve the community.

Ernest Gamboa, a volunteer, works on filling one of the food boxes to be distributed at the pantry.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Wyneishea Dawson remembers coming to the same building years ago when it was a beauty salon.

She walked to the pantry Thursday morning with four of her five elementary-age children in tow to pick up food to last the family until she receives her next payment of food stamps.

“I don’t get my food stamps until the 11th, and we always run out of food toward the end of the month,” said Dawson, 27.

Since opening March 31, the pantry has given away 16,734 pounds of food benefiting 1,381 residents.

Iglehart said the clients have come from East, North and South Waco, as well as Bellmead and Lacy-Lakeview.

“The personalized attention is what we try to give, and I think that’s what keeps people coming back,” Iglehart said. “People from all over the area come because they know that they will be treated with dignity. They’re not just a number.”

It’s not the average food pantry. Instead of a waiting room full of chairs, there are couches and armchairs, plus a dining table where visitors fill out paperwork.

Volunteers also carry the food boxes to the recipients’ cars, and deliver food to seniors who are disabled or without transportation to the pantry.

One of the workers took Dawson and her children, who had walked to the pantry from Renick, home so she would not have to struggle with the 60- pound box of food and pushing her 1-year-old’s stroller.

And on the first day of July, Christmas tunes were blasting from the office computer.

“When you think of Christmas, you think of giving and receiving. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,” Iglehart said of the decision to play the holiday carols year-round.

“So we want to put people in the spirit of giving, of loving, and we are planting a seed of love in this community.”

Lorine Silmon, 56, has been to the pantry every month since it opened. She used to go to Caritas for food assistance, but the Just As I Am Ministries pantry is a block from her home on Vine Street.

“I think it’s good that we have a place in this area to help people who may be suffering financially,” said Silmon, who is disabled. “Everybody needs a little help every now and then.”

Cassandra T. Alexander, the office administrator for the pantry, lives down the street from the office.

She decided to become involved after witnessing the transformation of the building and learning of the ministries’ purpose.

Lending an ear

She most enjoys meeting and talking to the different clients who drop by.

“It’s not about the food,” Alexander said. “Though that’s what they need and come here for, a lot of times people just want someone to listen to them, to hear what they are going through, and also to get some reassurance that there is a higher power watching who will bring them out.”

Each household can receive one box of food per month. New clients can call the pantry ahead of the Thursday distribution to request food.

Dole banana boxes filled with nonperishable foods are stacked on shelves in a main room, each labeled with a client’s name and the number of people in the household.

Once clients come to pick up food, volunteers retrieve meats, produce and frozen foods from a kitchen filled with large freezers, then weigh the box on a scale.

Much of the food comes from the Capitol Area Food Bank in Austin.

Each week, the food bank gives providers a list of available foods and their respective shipping costs, from nearly $4 for frozen blueberries to an assortment of breads for free.

Alexander and Iglehart collaborate on what foods to order, striving to get healthy foods like chicken, pinto beans and rice versus sugary pastries and sodas.

The pantry pays $700 to $800 in shipping and handling fees.

Clothing ministry

In addition to the food pantry, Iglehart opened a clothing pantry in the other donated building. It is open Saturdays and allows residents to pick out clothing free of charge.

Iglehart said she eventually hopes to expand and open a bigger complex for the two pantries as the ministry continues to reach more people in the community.

“I feel that many people are being blessed from this so far, and we want to continue to feed the needs of the community,” Iglehart said.

rdennis@wacotrib.com

757-5755

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