Religious nonprofit could fill the void
By Scott Bellile
City of New London officials recommend discontinuing the municipal Community Cupboard food pantry and shifting its operations to a nonprofit organization.
Municipal governments rarely operate food pantries, City Administrator Kent Hager told the New London Finance and Personnel Committee on Feb. 6.
“We did kind of a random survey of cities running food pantries, and basically we couldn’t find one,” Hager said at the meeting.
“And [we] thought that this was a good opportunity to see if we could get an existing food pantry or other entity to operate the food pantry.”
“This may be way off base, but as far as I know, we are the only city I’ve ever heard of that has a city-operated food pantry,” Mayor Gary Henke similarly said at a New London Parks and Recreation meeting in November. “Almost all of them are run by some other type of financial organization or a group of volunteers who just simply set up and that’s all they do is run a food pantry.”
The city has discussed a possible transfer with two local organizations: St. John’s Christian Food Pantry, a resource that has operated at 209 S. Pearl St. since 2003, and First Congregational United Church of Christ, which regularly staffs the Community Cupboard with volunteers.
Currently the city is expending resources “competing” with St. John’s Christian Food Pantry when it could be focusing attention on improving other areas such as the New London Senior Community Center, Hager said.
St. John’s Christian Food Pantry did not respond to a request for comment.
The Community Cupboard is funded by donations, not by tax dollars.
The city has money in its checking account available to provide whichever entity would take over for the Community Cupboard, Hager said.
“There’s money there that we handle in trust for the food pantry that we’ve accepted on behalf of donations of private companies and individuals to strictly benefit the food pantry and … that would be available to help some operation,” Hager said.
Hager said in a memo to City Hall staff Tuesday, Feb. 21 that he initially believed the city could not contribute money to a religious-based nonprofit entity such as a food pantry run by a church, but after consulting with City Attorney Earl Luaders, he learned that is not true.
“It would be better to contribute to a non-religious affiliated corporation, but not necessary,” Hager stated in his memo.
Discussions on a possible hand-off remain ongoing.
The Community Cupboard is located at The Washington Center near the New London Senior Community Center.
The resource was managed part-time by Kim Ebert until she left for a new job at the end of last year.
Working essentially a joint position, Ebert split her time between two local government entities, the city of New London and Waupaca County.
For five hours per day, the city paid Ebert to be the director of the New London Senior Community Center and the supervisor of the Community Cupboard.
Then for three hours per day, she managed Waupaca County’s senior meal site and home delivery program at The Washington Center. Those services are offered through Waupaca County’s Aging and Disability Resource Center.
Before Ebert resigned from her jobs, her county duties demanded her attention for four hours per day, overtaking her city senior center responsibilities, New London Public Services Director Chad Hoerth told the parks and recreation committee on Nov. 5, 2018.
“I think we’re not providing the amount of senior programming as we could and should,” Hoerth told the committee at the time.
At the city level, Ebert was also devoting increased time to assisting people at the Community Cupboard, further taking away from her senior center responsibilities, according to Hoerth.
After Ebert resigned, the city separated the position of city senior center director from the county meal site coordinator.
The city hired Lori Schneider to replace Ebert as the part-time senior center director. Schneider does not supervise the Community Cupboard or work for the county, allowing her to devote time to implementing new programming at the senior center.
New London Recreation Coordinator Ginger Arndt is now managing the Community Cupboard in the meantime, supported by volunteers, while the city decides whether to shut down the food pantry.
The Community Cupboard serves between 75 and 100 residents including their family members each pickup day, according to Arndt.
As of now, Arndt said: “We’re not closing. We’re still here, still stocking shelves. I think that’s very important for people to know.”
This year the city stopped accepting food from the federal government through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
Hoerth stated in a memo that the federal government began increasing the amount of commodities it provides local food pantries in December.
The city would have had to send more vehicles and employees to Waupaca each month than it does now to pick up an estimated 100 to 200 cases of food, which Hoerth indicated is more food than the city wants to handle.
The Community Cupboard continues to be sufficiently stocked with food items despite discontinuing commodities, Arndt said.
However, the Community Cupboard continues to accept donations while it remains in operation, Arndt said.
To arrange a drop-off, make an appointment with Arndt by calling 920-250-5609.