April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
DISABILITIES AWARENESS
Challenge for food pantries: patrons with special needs
Clients may have mobility issues, mental illnesses or even, as the food pantry at St. Patrick's in Ravena once encountered, gluten intolerances.
At Sacred Heart parish in Albany, some food pantry patrons have developmental disabilities. Others have severe food allergies.
"I registered [a] woman who was deaf," said Sister Peg Sullivan, RSM, the parish social ministry coordinator. At first, the woman had to write what she wanted. "Now, she has an app [on her cell phone], so we can do that."
Help for all
"We just go with the flow and help one another," Sister Peg added. The food pantry served 69 households in May, or about 200 people.
St. Mary's parish in Oneonta has "quite a few developmentally disabled folks who come in," said Janice Hinkley, outreach coordinator for the parish food pantry. The volunteers make sure to act with care: "We welcome everyone."
St. Mary's food pantry, which served 244 households last month, is client-based, meaning that the people who come in are able to choose which foods they want, as opposed to receiving a standard box of food.
"They can pick what they want," said Ms. Hinkley. With people with special needs, "sometimes you just have to go a little more slowly or explain more" about the options.
Catholic Charities of Schoharie County in Cobleskill regularly serves 40-50 families a month. The agency recently switched its food pantry to a client-based facility - which brought a 10- to 20-percent increase in families and a new, handicapped-accessible location. Director Lynn Glueckert said this gives patrons with special needs more access than they had before.
Many disabilities
She sees many people with challenges come to the food pantry, including people with literacy issues. Because of this, the food pantry has adopted a color-coded system that helps people who can't read to understand how many items of each food group they are allowed to take.
The food pantry at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Watervliet is in a location down a flight of stairs, so some people with physical disabilities may not go there. Still, the pantry served 52 families last month, according to coordinator Mary Beth Knapik.
The food pantry at Blessed Sacrament in Albany sees a diverse group of patrons come through their doors.
"Hunger and poverty are blind to a lot of factors," said Sister Judith Kapp, RSM, pastoral associate and director of the food pantry. People at the food pantry just need to be treated with respect, she said: "We had a woman come in with a friend of hers; they were from the Middle East. One of them said to me, 'My English isn't very good.' I said, 'Your English is very good.'"
Needing more
Many pantries see patrons who need more than just food. For Catholic Charities in Cobleskill, it's easy to connect guests with other Catholic Charities services, from a domestic violence program (including a nine-bedroom safe house) to emergency financial assistance, counseling, family support services, a thrift shop and more.
Smaller food pantries rely on other organizations and agencies that can handle anything from family services to clothing needs. "If you can't do it yourself, it's [best] referring them to someplace where someone could do it," said Sister Peg of St. Mary's.
Some people who have special needs come to the Oneonta parish's food pantry with a caseworker; others are fine on their own. "It's really trying to be attentive to where people are at and what their special concerns are," Sister Peg said.
"Everybody who walks through that door has a need. They're coming because they don't have food, but the other need they have is to be treated with dignity," said Sister Judith.
Ms. Hinkley said all the people food pantries serve have one thing in common: "We try to see the face of Christ in every client."[[In-content Ad]]
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