Pumpkin Spice Up Someone's Life

The worst part about being an adult has to be the endless cycle of meal planning, shopping, preparing and cleaning up after preparing meals. I had no idea I would spend so much of my adult life thinking about what my family was going to eat. Add in the cost of food and it’s enough to keep you up at night. Did you know Clinton County’s food insecurity rate was almost 12% in 2020? And think about how much the cost of living has changed since then. Nutrition security means having consistent and equitable access to healthy foods, having them available in our stores, having them be affordable to us and knowing what to do with them. If our family is missing even one of those pieces, it can make us food or nutrition insecure. CCHD is working with local partners to try and combat the roadblocks our families face every day while trying to feed their families. In 2022, we created a Food Action Plan with local partners to set goals, priorities, actions and strategies intended to strengthen the local food system. CCHD has also sought resources and funding to help our local food pantries increase their ability to accept, store and offer fresh foods and a wider variety of healthier choices. As we move into the holiday giving season, we are talking to Dorothy Latta, Coordinator of the Plattsburgh Interfaith Food Shelf. Dorothy has been a “staple” there since 2011 and will help us understand what our local needs are and how we can help.

Dorothy, what is the need for assistance from food pantries like in our community?

A year or so ago I was asked by a local civic group if there really are hungry people in the North Country. Often when we hear the word hungry, we think of malnutrition or picture images of emaciated children on television in places far away. Today, you are more likely to encounter the terms food or nutrition insecurity rather than hunger. In America, there is very little starvation but food insecurity is a major issue. Food insecurity is an official term from the USDA defined as when a person lacks regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. This may be due to the unavailability of food and/or lack of resources to obtain food.

As Molly mentioned, recent studies reported that 1 in 8 (12.5%) Clinton County community members are experiencing food insecurity. This includes the 1 in 7 (14.2%) children that are experiencing food insecurity within the county. This is a huge number of people who don't have enough to eat and may not know where or how they will find their next meal.

Is this different from years past? Are we seeing any trends in which residents are reaching out for help?

So far this year, 4,606 households have made requests for emergency food and the Food Shelf has served 10,994 people. This is an increase of approximately 8% compared to the same period of time in 2023.

About two-thirds of the households request assistance only once or twice per year. 92% of clients request assistance fewer than 5 times per year. This clearly demonstrates that clients use our Food Shelf as it is intended, as emergency food support and not as a continuing resource. At our location, clients are eligible for full distribution offerings a total of 10 visits per year. After the 10 visits, clients may visit up to twice a month and are offered a very limited amount of food.

I have seen some posts on social media about the best and worst things to donate to local food pantries – what are the best items for donation?

The items most appreciated are what I refer to as the “boring basics” – pantry items that we always have to offer clients.  These include peanut butter, canned fruit, canned vegetables, boxed macaroni & cheese, cold cereal, oatmeal, soup, dry pasta, canned pasta, rice, pancake mix, pork and beans, canned tuna, chicken or salmon, and stuffing. Additional items that are not included on our standard “menu” are offered to clients as bonus items. Things like whole grain bread, rice and cereal, low sodium canned vegetables and canned fruit with no added sugar are great bonus items to have. They are very appreciated by families and hard to get from the Regional Food Bank. For a full list of healthy food donation items and ideas, click here.

What items should we avoid donating?

Everyone likes to know that their donation can be used to make a difference, so here are some guidelines to consider:

• There is limited refrigerator and freezer space for storage, so please donate only “dry-goods” (non-perishable) foods.
• Check expiration dates on all food items before donating. If the item is expired for 6 months or longer, it should not be donated.
• Only commercially prepared items are acceptable for food distribution (not home canned food items).
• Items that do not have an ingredients label should not be donated. Recipients may have food allergies.
• For food safety reasons, any opened, used, or damaged item should not be donated.

Is there anything we wouldn’t think of that would help make our donation go farther?

Each month, the Food Shelf orders approximately 22,000-24,000 pounds of food through the Regional Food Bank. This allows us to purchase food at substantially lower cost than through retail. Often times monetary donations are preferred because your charitable dollar goes farther than what you can purchase at a grocery store.

Donations can be dropped off in person at the Food Shelf anytime during operating hours of 9-12 M-F, or 4-6pm Friday only. Additional information for donations can be found by visiting https://www.plattsburghfoodshelf.org/.

We are very appreciative of the extremely generous donations and support from our local community that has enabled this organization to provide assistance to people in need for over 40 years!

Top 3 things to remember.

1. Food insecurity is a very real issue in the North Country.
2. The best items to donate are “dry goods”. Our purchases through the Regional Food Bank are much lower than a grocery store – so monetary donations often go farther.
3. The Interfaith Food Shelf provides emergency food to all residents of Clinton County in need of assistance. There are no financial restrictions for receiving food.