“If we want the $132,000 we have to jump through all these stupid hoops,” Staron said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Blackwater Ministerial Food Pantry in Davis is seeking assistance with raising matching funds to construct a building at their new location in time to meet a deadline to be out of their currently location at the end of this year. Food Pantry representative Veronica Staron spoke to the Tucker County Commission July 10th regarding the situation.
Staron said she had started working at the Food Pantry twenty years ago and has seen the need for services increase dramatically over the years. “2004, I began working with the Food Pantry,” Staron said. “In the last 20 years we have gone from eight to 10 people to now 85 to 96 households. USDA will not let us talk about families because anybody who lives alone is not a family, they are a household. So we have to do counts by households.”
According to Staron, the roster of clients has grown over the years, as well. “We also have to account for adults and children and everybody over 60 on a monthly basis,” Staron said. “The roster of the people we have looks like this, multiple pages, and this is about 175 households because not everybody comes every month. Some people live in such accommodations that there are no storage,” Staron said. “Some people can’t eat or use up the food that we give them and that’s ok because it can extend to the next month.”
Staron said the Food Pantry gives three bags of non perishable items, as well as four types of meats to its clients. “We give them three bags of non perishables and one bag of perishables being meat,” Staron said. “We make sure they have four kinds of meat when they leave us, even if one of the meats is canned tuna or canned beef stew so they get some protein because if you live without any money, you can’t buy meat the way it is.”
According to Staron the incomes of the clients vary by ranges from as little as $430 a month to the income limit of $2,200 a month. “We have people that present me with their income from $430 a month, that they have to pay gas, food, heat, utilities, maybe insurance and medicine so they cannot stretch that money very far,” Staron said. “We also have people who are a little closer to the limit, but the limit for 2024 is $2,200.”
Staron said that clients over 60 with an income under $1,248 is eligible for a box of food from the USDA. “Anybody over 60 can have a box of food from the USDA , but their income limit has to be $1,248 and I have to screen that very tightly,” Staron said.
Staron said she tries to be liberal with the income limit because she knows the situation that many families are in currently. “I’m not really tight on that other 2200,” Staron said. “How many people on the mountain do you know that makes $2200 a month? If you got $430, it doesn’t go very far.”
According to Staron, the Food Pantry has been forced to relocate a number of times over the year. The latest move spurred volunteers’ desire to build a permanent location. “Now that we are being evicted again, the staff, those 25 people that work so hard said, ‘Enough of this, we’re going to put up a building,’” Staron said.
Staron said she had visited over 25 property owners in the search for a new location, to no avail. “I visited over 25 property owners…to please let us put up a building, lease, donate…got nowhere,” Staron said. “Talked to people until I was blue in the face. That’s over 25 people, 25 people who say we don’t have time.”
A new permanent location was eventually found with the lease of a third of an acre next to the Thomas Catholic Cemetery. “The bishop leased us a third of an acre next to the Thomas Catholic Cemetery.”
In the Fiscal Year of 2023-2024, over 35 tons of food was distributed, according to Staron. In total 71,000 pounds of food was distributed to 942 households, according to Staron. The foods distributed, Staron said, consisted of canned goods, produce and meats mostly. “Fiscal year 23-24, we served 942 households,” Staron said. “That’s 942 divided by 12.”
During the same Fiscal Year, Staron said, 222 volunteers worked two to three hours a day and had they been paid would have accounted for $41,000 in labor costs. “We had volunteers, 222 between 15 to 18 depending on the snow, every month,” Staron said. “They drive to pick up the food from Parsons, they deliver food to people’s houses who don’t have cars because we have folks up there that don’t have cars. They work Tuesdays and Wednesdays to pack the food and distribute them. It is a butt bumping warehouse, I’m telling you. All our volunteers are friends. There is very little room down there to work.”
While the Food Pantry accepts donations, with the cost of constructing a new building, those donations now have to be split, according to Staron. “The donations that now come in have to be designated to either food or construction,” Staron said.
Staron said the project has a builder and know how they are going to run utilities and have an HVAC system planned, but now it has become an issue of money. “We have a builder in mind, we have a building in mind, we know where we are going to get water, we know where we are going to get sewage, we know what we are going to do about electricity, heat and air conditioning. All that stuff we have in place,” Staron said. “But now its an issue of money.”
A $132,000 grant for the project is currently on hold pending further investigation and documentation of the site, according to Staron. “That’s on hold until we can prove there’s no bats on the property, make sure there’s nobody buried there,” Staron said. “There’s a cemetery next door. Then we have to check to see if its arable land. Now we have to put in a silt fence. Now we have to have a architect. All of this is taking money. I just wanted to let you know that this is not a cheap endeavor.”
Staron said the grant funds will greatly help the Food Pantry, but is frustrated at all the extra studies the site is requiring. “Yes, the $132,000 will help us, but when you stop to think of it, architect’s fee and an environmentalist’s fee and we can’t get away from it because if we want the $132,000 we have to jump through all these stupid hoops.”
Staron said she keeps track of the Food Pantry’s funds and reports regularly to the Pantry’s major donors. The information and other statistics on the site are given to the Food Patnry donors, according to Staron. “People who give us big chunks of money want to identify where I spent the money. So I have to keep really tight track of that stuff,” Staron said.
Staron said the Food Pantry takes care of the people of Tucker County. “We take very good care of your citizens,” Staron said. “They know they get good food.”
Tucker County Commission President Mike Rosenau thanked the Food Bank for all they did for the community. “Thank you for all you do for our county,” Rosenau said. “We’re blessed…I think we are blessed in our county. It is people helping people.”
The new building is designed to be 30 by 50 feet for a total of 1500 square feet and is estimated to double the size of the currently location. The building is also slated to have a drive through service. It will also contain a small kitchen and bathroom for workers’ use. Construction is expected to begin in August and is estimated to be completed by the end of October, well ahead of the deadline to be moved from their current location by the end of the year.
The Food Bank is currently soliciting funding from governmental agencies and is working on fund raising matching funds for grant funding. Money can be donated by check to BMA Food Pantry, PO Box 103, Davis, WV 26260; memo: Construction Fund; or drop a donation off at the Grant County Bank in Davis or Canaan Valley (make sure it is noted BMA Construction Fund). Donations are tax-deductible.
For more information on the Blackwater Ministerial Food Pantry or to donate, visit https://blackwaterministerial.org/donate/ or call 304-259-5635.