PANAMA CITY— Hunger is an existing problem in Bay County. Hundreds of diet-related deaths had been reported in recent years, but the contributing factors and consequences of poor nutrition and food scarcity haven’t been very visible until now.
“We get quite a few calls from people wanting to know when we’re going to have food again,” said Mamie Belton, the food pantry coordinator at Holy Temple Church of God in Panama City.
Belton said Holy Temple’s food pantry opened nearly four years ago after Pastor W.C. Green got the idea to start the pantry as an outreach program for the church.
The church applied to join the network around Bay Area Food Bank, which according to the organization’s website, is a hunger-fighting agency with three branches in the Gulf Coast region used to distribute over 16 million pounds of food annually in its 24-county service area.
Without a doubt, putting that much vital nutrition into the hands of poverty-stricken people puts a dent in poor health outcomes brought on by a lack of sustenance.
But it’s not enough.
Hunger takes a village-sized effort to battle. Knowing this, the Florida Department of Agriculture unveiled a new initiative on Thursday created to offer food banks, nonprofits, churches and policy makers a tool to help identify the dimensions of hunger in their respective communities.
According to an AP report, Agriculture Commissioner Adam H. Putnam announced an online program called “Florida’s Roadmap to Living Healthy” that gives users the ability to assess hunger in counties statewide using Geographic Information Systems, or GIS technology.
“The possibilities of this roadmap are unlimited,” Putnam said in a press release. “It will help state agencies like mine make better-informed decisions about where we use our limited resources to support Florida communities at greatest risk.”
Roadmap users can query data with map layers that plot the incidence of diet-related death and predisposing factors, such as availability of healthy food sources, the number of food stamp recipients in a given zip code, the proximity of low-performing schools and food deserts.
HolyTemple sits in the Glenwood neighborhood, one of Panama City’s food deserts identified on the interactive map. Cedar Grove and Springfield add to the cluster of deserts, which are typically impoverished areas lacking reliable transportation and places to buy wholesome foods.
Needy residents in these areas are more prone to a consistent absence of nutritious food.
Belton said many of the pantry’s clients are homeless, on disability or from low-income households.
“We serve anyone that has a need,” she said. The pantry doesn’t screen clients for need, but does ask them to provide demographics information the pantry is required to report on a quarterly basis.
The pantry tends to see the same clients each month when groceries are distributed.
“It’s sort of a mixture,” Belton said. “We get homeless and elderly people and younger single mothers.”
Belton said her husband, Howard Belton, delivers food to a few homebound elderly clients after the food bank order comes in.
“We order our food from the Bay Area Food Bank out of Milton,” Belton said.
Belton goes “shopping” for groceries distributed in Holy Temple’s monthly food pick-up timeslots by filling out an online order form a week ahead of time.
The food bank then delivers supplies to the church, where half a dozen volunteers are waiting to bag 35 to 40 bundles of non-perishable food items.
“We normally get canned vegetables and fresh fruits and vegetables, if they have that,” Belton said.
Belton said the pantry gets a generous assortment of groceries, including bread, crackers, pastries, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, meat and juice on occasion.
Fresh produce delivered by the food bank is donated by local farmers.
“From what meats we get, a lot of it is donated by Publix, Winn-Dixie and Walmart,” she said.
HolyTemplefeeds about 120 people a month on average, according to use reported by food recipients. The pantry gets more takers around the holidays.
Belton said the pantry didn’t have a tool like Florida’s Roadmap to Living Healthy when the decision to open was made. The church went off of instinct and what they already knew to exist in the community.
The Roadmap initiative aims to take some of the guesswork out where hunger lives on while people die from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other illnesses linked to severe malnourishment.
The map puts users more in touch with the reality of how close hunger can be, but it can’t tell the story of why it prevails as well as those putting food directly into the hands of those who need it.
“A lot of people don’t utilize their resources properly,” Belton said.
She’s known pantry-goers to turn up after mismanaging their money or running out of options when substance abuse is at play.
“They’re not taking care of all their necessities,” Belton said. “If they have alcohol or drug problems, they’re going to take care of that need before their basic needs.”
The Holy Temple pantry feeds everyone it can regardless of circumstance.
“Our goal and mission is to help people and not judge them,” Belton said. “That’s not for us to do.”
Need help with groceries?
HolyTemple’s next food pick-up time is scheduled for Sept. 20 from 8 to 11 a.m. at the church, 802 E. Eighth Court, Panama City. The pantry asks patrons to fill out a demographics card at the time of pick up.