Rhonda Adams on People Seeking More Help from Food Pantries

Frederica Freyberg:
The Evers administration overnight Thursday made full November FoodShare payments to 700,000 people in Wisconsin who rely on the assistance. That after a federal judge late this week ordered the Trump administration to fully fund SNAP, saying people have gone without for too long. Trump Friday appealed that decision, but a stay was not granted. People’s accounts in Wisconsin have been restored, at least for this month. Now the chaos in the SNAP program and overall higher costs have drawn more and more people to seek help from food pantries, including many first-time visitors. Over four days this week at one of Wisconsin’s busiest, the River Food Pantry in Dane County, they served nearly 5,000 individuals. As its executive director, Rhonda Adams, told me, long lines and empty pockets tell the story. What has it been like here in terms of numbers and demand on people’s part for help with food?

Rhonda Adams:
I can’t keep up with it, to be honest. It’s hard to keep up with them because they’re changing every day. But we just know that there is an increase in what we’ve been seeing over the last several months. We’re on track to serve over 20,000 unique individuals this year, and that’s up from last year, about 18,700. So a lot of people are coming to us. There’s a lot of need.

Frederica Freyberg:
You’ve been executive director for five years. How does this period of time right now compare to prior years?

Rhonda Adams:
There’s no comparison. This is — this is and I don’t even want to say crazy, but it is crazy how much need there is right now. So as I was looking at numbers again just from last week, serving close to 5,000 people in a week. We never thought we’d be able to do that and never thought we’d need to do that. But we’re here for the people that need us through very dedicated volunteers and a very devoted staff.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you ever have concerns that this amount of donations won’t come in, won’t be able to serve the people that need it?

Rhonda Adams:
To be honest, yes, I did have that concern but I will tell you that our community has been amazing. They have heard our pleas. They’ve heard other food pantries’ pleas that please bring us money. Please give us money. Please give food. We need help. We need volunteers. And the community has responded.

Frederica Freyberg:
Even if, by court order, the SNAP funding is reinstated, do you expect it to be immediate where people will have that on their EBT cards?

Rhonda Adams:
I don’t. I don’t expect that to be immediate. I expect that to be weeks. And also, I think people are still going to be apprehensive about is that really true? Plus, I think people have found us and now have also found that we’re welcoming, that we’re here for them. And so we — I believe we’ll continue to see uptick in numbers here. And plus we’re coming into the holidays, which is always a busy time for us.

Frederica Freyberg:
How confusing and frightening is it for your customers, your clients, the people you serve to kind of be in the midst of what’s happening in Washington?

Rhonda Adams:
It’s very confusing. I was talking to some of the clients last week and they said, like, we’re scrambling, but we don’t — we don’t know which — what to listen to, which side to listen to. And like, we’re in the middle and who is also — who’s also in the middle are children. And that’s, that’s heartbreaking that children are going hungry and maybe going hungry because of the SNAP benefits being cut.

Frederica Freyberg:
What kind of provisions do you have here to help the community?

Rhonda Adams:
Yep. So the River has eight different programs and it’s really a way to give different access to different people and how can they get food. So we do have a mobile meal program where we go out into 24 different neighborhoods throughout the week, where we are delivering a meal. We also have our most busiest and popular program, which is curbside. And that’s really what the volunteers here are preparing, to put together bags for our clients that are coming curbside, with a variety of things. What we’re seeing here is produce: the most requested item, milk and eggs and dairy products and shelf stable products, all those kind of things. Meat. You mentioned also the meal. So this week we are serving chicken noodle soup, which has been really popular. But also, we do have a meal here every week. So again we’re serving four days a week and people can come to us for the meal. And it just takes a burden off of people having to prepare one more meal. They can have one already prepared for them and their families.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you see a lot of first-time visitors?

Rhonda Adams:
Another heartbreaking thing. Yes, we do see a lot of first time. Last week was 81 households had never been here before. Came for the very first time and to see the looks on their face, they’re frightened. They don’t know what to do or what to expect. And, you know, for many of them, they’re feeling shame and they’re making a — telling us, you know, sorry that I’m here and apologizing for being here. We greet them with a smile. You saw Kevin here as our register — registering clients and treating them with a smile and with telling them, it’s okay, we’re here. We’re going to help you.

Frederica Freyberg:
What can people who want to help you, this pantry, other pantries, food banks, what can they do?

Rhonda Adams:
Yeah. And it’s really for all food pantries across the country because we’re all in this work together and we’re all wanting to make a difference in people’s lives with, you know, just a basic need of food. So money is, is, is needed. And that’s what I’m hearing from other food pantries, too. Money is the number one request, right, so that we can, again, make that dollar stretch a little bit farther. We’re happy that we’re here and that people are finding us and they’re trusting us, right, with a basic need that they need. Right. It’s food, but it is — it’s sad. It’s heartbreaking that people are in this position to come to us.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Thank you so much.

Rhonda Adams:
Thank you.