How to help…
Needed items include:
Canned or non-perishable proteins, fruits and vegetables, as well as pasta, cereal and oatmeal.
Catholic Charities
Organize a drive or drop off donations, email donations@archlou.org. To donate funds or for more information, visit cclou.org.
St. Vincent de Paul
Participate in its Stock the Shelves Initiative, visit svdplou.org/stock-the-shelves.
As people in the community grapple with critical food insecurity, Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre is asking the Catholic community to pray for those struggling to feed their families and to prayerfully consider donating to local food pantries.
“There is a critical need in Central Kentucky, as a growing number of people are facing food insecurity,” he wrote in a Nov. 18 statement addressed to his “brothers and sisters in Christ.”
“Food pantries operated by Catholic Charities of Louisville and St. Vincent de Paul of Louisville are experiencing a significant increase in families, making it hard to keep food on the shelves to meet the growing demand,” he wrote.
“The Scripture, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink (Mt. 25:35), reminds us that an expression of our Catholic faith is our faith in action,” he wrote. “In these challenging times, people need to know they are loved and not forgotten.”
Food pantries in the Archdiocese of Louisville have seen a steady increase in need for several months, said local social service leaders. The government shutdown and subsequent delay in SNAP (food stamp) benefits have added to that pressure.
Catholic Charities’ three food pantries have faced a significant increase in the number of clients.
In October, before the SNAP benefits delay, the charity’s Sister Visitor Center in the Russell neighborhood served more than 2,500 people — with a 33 percent increase in the number of new participants. Its Father Jack Jones Food Pantry, located at Holy Name Church near Churchill Downs, served 30 percent more people than usual in October and added three new weekly shifts.
The agency’s Bread for Life Food Pantry in Bardstown, Ky., served 565 people during the first week of November, twice the amount they see in a normal week. The pantry sent food boxes to area schools and added a new route for its mobile pantry.
“Since spring, it has been month over month more people, greater need and dropping supply,” said Lisa DeJaco Crutcher, CEO of Catholic Charities. With an increase in grocery prices and other things, “You’re getting fewer things for your money.”
At St. Vincent de Paul, which operates a food pantry and a soup kitchen on South Preston Street near downtown Louisville, “We’ve seen a 20 to 25% increase over the last several months. We’re serving more people and food is flying off the shelves,” said Tony Nochim, communications and public relations coordinator.
The food pantry, which normally sees 80 to 90 people per day, served 166 on a recent Tuesday — a record, Nochim said.
In late October and early November, the community responded to the critical need with an outpouring of donations from schools, parishes, businesses and individuals, Nochim said, emphasizing, “We’re grateful for the support.”
DeJaco Crutcher said the response from the community has been tremendous.
“We’re incredibly grateful, she said. “Continued individual giving is crucial to getting through this.”
Increased giving by the community helps relieve urgent need, she noted, but it doesn’t solve the long-term problems food ministries are facing.
Food pantries require “a level of sustained involvement — people can’t keep up with that all the time,” said DeJaco Crutcher. “That’s why we pay for this with tax dollars, because we as a society agree this is something that needs to happen in an organized fashion.”
“It would be wonderful if everyone could put their neighbor first; if we all lived that way, maybe we could have a society of private charity,” she said.
Read the archbishop’s full statement here.
