Hunger is a common problem in the United States. Sometimes government assistance programs aren’t enough to fill the cupboards. The non-profit group Feeding South Dakota reports one in eight people in the state don’t always have enough money to buy food.
A large trailer sits outside the Mother Butler Center Church in Rapid City. Inside, volunteers prepare 12 fully stocked shelves along with two freezers and refrigerators. Staff and volunteers fill the trailer with nearly 4,000 pounds of food from their warehouse. There’s enough food for just over 100 people. Each person gets about 30 pounds on a first come first serve basis.
Inside, the Mobile Food Pantry is set up a lot like a grocery store. People push small shopping carts and volunteers help them find food—then load it into grocery bags and cars.
Feeding South Dakota serves the whole state from a number of food pantry buildings and warehouses. The mobile food pantries started appearing in low-income communities in 2013. Now, there are mobile programs in 45 of South Dakota's 66 counties. The trailer in Rapid City was added just this year.
Elizabeth Moffit uses both the mobile pantry and pantry building to feed herself and her two children.
“I actually use both of them. You can only go to the one every 60 days. So it’s kind of a fill in between the 60 days.”
Moffit used to get food stamps, but now she’s not eligible—her income is 19 dollars too much each month. She says it can be hard to keep groceries stocked for her family, and that the mobile pantry has helped prevent them from being hungry.
“I don’t think I’d survive without it, I really don’t. Last summer was pretty rough when we got kicked off the food stamps for 19 dollars a month too much.”
Moffit says she uses the services as often as possible. Her family looks forward the groceries.
“My daughter gets pretty excited about marshmallows because we make rice crispy treats. My son likes the meat that we get because that helps a lot. That’s the most expensive thing it the cereal and the meat.”
The Rapid City mobile food pantry makes 13 stops each month. George Rokusek manages the food programs in the Black Hills.
“We do two mobiles in a day. We have one all ready to go. When we’re finished we go back to our wearhouse. We basically just switch out the shelving units. And the only thing we have to restock then is the coolers and freezers.”
Trailers like this one aren’t part of every mobile food pantry in the state. Rokusek says a smaller version of the mobile pantry began in Rapid City last year. It serves high need areas based on people's access to food, vehicles, income and surveys from families.
“We pack with the idea that we have enough to get through and so far we’ve been lucky. We have at least enough to get through the people that are showing up.”
Rokusek says a doner built the intricate trailer this year to help feed more people in Rapid City. He says the mobile program is an important addition to the organization because it makes food easier to get.
“There are folks that can’t get out to our pantry. So the mobile we’re getting into areas where some people may don’t have access to vehicles. Maybe they do, but they’re catching rides. And maybe this is one thing that they didn’t have to wait for somebody to catch a ride to.”
The mobile program has given out more than 200,000 pounds of food since last April. Rokusek says bills like rent can take priority over groceries when families are in financial stress.
“They are tasked with going through what they have to pay for and where does food fall on there. Probably in the medicine and medicines probably behind food. So they have to make a lot of really tough decisions in a short period of time.”
Rokusek says for many people, it’s doesn't take much fall behind on their bills. Feeding South Dakota reports that more than thirteen percent of the state’s population lives below the poverty line.
“The people that sometimes we serve whether it be on our mobile pantry or at our pantry may have just lost a job and they literally don’t have five hundred dollars savings to get to the next month.”
Feeding South Dakota’s statewide food programs are available to anyone. People can use the food pantry building once every 60 days. Staff members are determining a limit on number the of times people can use at the Mobile Food Pantry. For some, the food is essential.
Even people who receive food stamps can still have trouble affording groceries. Kelcie Iron Crow and her partner have 4 kids. She says food stamps don't last the whole month when you’re working to feed that many mouths. She says the mobile pantry is convenient.
“It’s like not in one spot, it’s in different parts of the city too so we can go to those other locations and stand lin line, get some food and we’re ready for another week maybe.”
...And Iron Crow says the 30 pounds of food often doesn’t last more than a week. She also uses the food pantry building once every two months. She’s able to get more groceries at the building, but says it’s good to have mobile pantry as another option.
“I think it's been a lot better for us. It’s a lot closer to where we live and I think that's a lot of help for us. But I like it alot because there’s a lot of variety of foods that are in there.”
Feeding South Dakota staff considers the new Rapid City food trailer a success so far and plans to continue making adjustments to fit community’s needs.