How to Find a Food Pantry In Your Area

Food pantries have always played a critical role in helping address issues of food instability in communities. And today, they’re more important than ever. Surges in the U.S. unemployment rate brought on by the coronavirus have meant more individuals and families in need of food support, as well as the need for rapid changes in the way that food pantries run and operate. The good news? Many food pantries across the country have stepped up to the plate and are working hard to meet the growing need, even as they’ve had to greatly reduce their volunteer teams. Below, we’ll cover how to find a food pantry in your area, as well as some additional resources that may be helpful.

Different Types of Food Assistance Programs

It’s helpful to know the differences between various types of food assistance programs. Here’s a quick breakdown of the basics.

Food pantry: A food pantry is an individual site that provides food to those in need in a designated area. Food is acquired in a few different ways, including through individual donation and from food banks.

Food bank: A food bank is sort of the organizational arm of ensuring food assistance programs like food pantries can fill their shelves. They collect unsold product from grocery stores, food drives, overstocked manufacturer inventories, and more, and then store and redistribute that food to organizations like food pantries and meal centers.

Meal centers: A meal center is a site where individuals can go to receive a free or reduced price meal. Also called soup kitchens or food kitchens, meal centers are often operated by individual communities and provide one meal at a time instead of providing groceries.

Government food assistance. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a government-run food program that provides vouchers for food at grocery stores. It can take many weeks (and a fair amount of paperwork) to receive government assistance though, so it’s not a good short term solution in an emergency.

How to Find a Food Pantry Near You

To find a local food pantry or food bank, there are nine great places to start:

Feeding America

FoodPantries.org

Ample Harvest

Homeless Shelter Directory

PantryNet.org

WhyHunger

Google

2-1-1

Local religious establishments

Note that the coronavirus has meant some food pantries have had to shutter their doors, while others have very quickly expanded their resources to accommodate the areas left behind. Because things have been changing fast, always reach out to a food pantry directly to confirm that they’re running operations and what the process is. It’s possible that updated information hasn’t quite yet made it to their site or the resources for how to find a food pantry listed above, so you’ll need to communicate directly.

What to Expect When You Go To a Food Pantry

The first step is to find a food pantry, and the second step is to actually get what you need.

Usually, food pantries and food banks operate much like grocery stores, where you browse the shelves and pick up what you need. Due to guidelines imposed by social distancing however, today’s food pantries are offering their services through drive-up and delivery, with grab-and-go bags of food. Each food pantry’s policies and process might look a little bit different, which is another reason that it’s important to reach out directly first.

For drive-up services, expect that you will pull up your car and a helper will deposit a bag of food in your car. For delivery, food is left on the doorstep. Because these are grab-and-go bags, you unfortunately won’t be able to select the exact food that you receive. If a food pantry is operating with standard procedures, you’ll still have to be careful for now to follow all sanitization requirements and to stay at least six feet away from others.

Food assistance is available. Use the resources above to find a food pantry near you. Many food pantries offer baby and pet food as well, but it may be harder to come by. If you are in need of those items, be sure to mention that when you reach out. If a food pantry cannot help you directly, they may be able to connect you with someone who can.