Unemployment is low. Wages and productivity are up. Gas prices have finally dropped below $3 a gallon.
You might think times are good, or at least improving, but it didn’t quite look that way Monday in Wakarusa.
Cars lined up as far as the eye could see to get into the Clayton Homes factory parking lot on Indiana 19. The company’s employees teamed up with the Food Bank of Northern Indiana to host a mobile pantry, providing bags of food to anyone who drove up.
Jessica Weisser, Clayton Homes’ training manager, said the factory ended production at noon instead of 2:30 p.m. so that the parking lot could clear out. Cars started lining up at 10 o’clock for the 1 p.m. event.
It was the fifth time the manufactured housing maker hosted a Food Bank mobile pantry, the third time Tthis year. Weisser explains that employees choose to have money deducted from their paychecks and placed into the company’s United Fund. The company’s impact team then decides which charities receive the money each year.
Food Bank Executive Director Marijo Martinec says the nonprofit has been doing mobile pantries for 15 years but really ramped them up during COVID.
“This is a way for people to get extra food,” Martinec says. “Because when you shop at a pantry, you’re likely not to get enough food. It’s not like going to the grocery store. I know there’s protein in there as well, which, frankly is a luxury item for people at food pantries.”
The long line didn’t come as a surprise to Martinec, who knows that food prices have been rising even faster than the overall inflation rate. She says from January through October, the Food Bank’s six-county service area saw a 29 percent increase in the number of first-time clients, compared to that period last year. The increase was 43 percent in Elkhart County, where the RV industry has begun to slow down a bit.
“Inflation. So I think there’s so many people who continue to really struggle to put food on the table. You see a lot of seniors at these mobile distributions so these are people who are not working.”
At the mobile pantries, the Food Bank tries to provide enough food for at least two meals. They also tend to include healthier and more fresh foods.
“So they’re getting a box of dry goods as well as onions, potatoes, eggs, bread, carrots, hamburger and apples, that’s what they’re getting today. Canned goods, corn, beans, rice, maybe some pasta, things they can make multiple meals with,” Weisser says.
Bryan Garcia, a team leader in the carpet division, is clearly enjoying himself as he helps hand out food. He says it’s especially important around the holidays.
“We receive a lot from God and I think this is the perfect time to give more to the people out there,” he says. “When you see those smiles and kids and adults, that’s priceless. It’s like, that motivates you to do it again and again and again.”
Garcia wasn’t the only Clayton Homes worker having some fun.
Phillip and Dar, who asked that their last names not be used, are two friends who live in the same Elkhart apartment building. They were some of the many people lined up in vehicles. Dar says they learned of the event by Googling for “food distribution sites” and “northern Indiana.”
Phillip says he was laid off in a corporate takeover of his employer during COVID. At age 62, he thinks his age has made it harder for him to find work again.
Dar says they appreciate the mobile pantries.
“It really helps everybody and they don’t show and prejudice at all,” she says. “The people are great and friendly, and a lot of times it’s fun.”
The mobile pantry counts the number of people and households in each vehicle but it doesn’t take any information about the people who come and receive food.
Upcoming mobile pantry events:
Wednesday, December 13 – Starke County
10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET *While supplies last.
Where: Knox United Methodist Church, 201 S. Shield St., Knox
Thursday, December 14 – St. Joseph County
10 a.m. – Noon ET *While supplies last.
Where: Kroger, 4526 W. Western Avenue, South Bend
Friday, December 15 – Elkhart County
11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET *While supplies last.
Where: East Goshen Mennonite Church, 2019 E. Lincoln Ave., Goshen
Monday, December 18 - Kosciusko County
10 a.m. – Noon ET *While supplies last.
Where: Kosciusko County Fairgrounds, 1400 E. Smith St., Warsaw
Thursday, December 28 – St. Joseph County
10 a.m. – Noon ET *While supplies last.
WHERE: Food Bank of Northern Indiana, 702 Chapin St., South Bend
