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Follow the Haag family throughout the entire year. Each month, look for updates about the family members and the decisions they make on their farm.
PONTIAC, Ill. — A line of cars, pickup trucks and even a lawnmower circled around the building and out into Water Street as volunteers with protective masks enthusiastically delivered bags of groceries to each vehicle.
It’s a common scene at food banks across the nation as the services transitioned from visitors picking up their food and household needs indoors to drive-through services as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Emington farmer Mike Haag and his wife, Trisha, are among the many volunteers who work at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry in the Livingston County seat.
He’s served on the food pantry board for five years, including the past three as president. Trisha joined the board last year.
The food pantry serves all county residents and is a ministry of St. Mary’s Parish in Pontiac. Evelyn Ribordy is a long-time volunteer who oversees the day-to-day operations.
Increased Need
As with many food pantries, St. Vincent de Paul is also seeing an up-tick in clients due to rising unemployment.
“We’re probably seeing 10 new families that we haven’t seen before this,” Mike Haag said.
About 100 to 125 people shopped at the facility each Thursday when the doors were open to the public, and 220 to 250 unique households are served monthly.
Since the drive-through service began, about 100 are served weekly. They represent households ranging from one to eight people.
The pantry was moved to a larger facility last fall after previously being housed at St. Mary’s Parish Hall. The former doctor’s office building was donated by the Bank of Pontiac. The space was opened up by removing some of the smaller offices, and a walk-in cooler was added.
Support
Products for this and other food pantries are provided through food banks, government commodities and food and cash donations.
“We get deliveries from the Eastern Illinois Food Bank twice a month and pick up supplies once a month at Midwest Food Bank in Bloomington at no cost. We get donations from the community all of the time. Walmart, through the Feeding America initiative, donates bread, meat and other items that are close to the expiration date, and Aldi also donates bread that’s close to being out of date,” Haag said.
“If we don’t have something, if we’re missing some key part, then we go buy that wherever we can get it the cheapest. Being able to get all of this other food from all these other places really helps us leverage those costs down.”
They’ve even been successful in securing hard-to-find toilet paper.
“These volunteers have found ways to get toilet paper to these people every week. We’re trying to come up with ways to better serve them over time if this is going to be a while. I’m hoping that we can get back to serving inside in a few weeks,” Haag continued.
USDA Commodities
Food pantries also benefit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s commodity subsidy program, including shipments of peanut butter, chicken, pork and other items.
“You never know what commodities you’re going to get. I have noticed with this administration that the poundage coming through that USDA program has really increased. They do a lot more commodity buying. Every once and a while we get milk through the commodities program,” Haag said.
Haag foresees a shortfall in the next few months but remains optimistic.
“I think our numbers are going to go up and our dollars are going to go down just because we don’t have people in church to donate and people may not be able to donate as much, too. I do see that being a problem in the next few months but we’re sure going to try to weather the storm,” he said.
Pork Power
Haag’s connection to food pantry program traces back to his years serving on the Illinois Pork Producers Association board and then as president.
IPPA’s Pork Power program has provided more than 821,000 pounds of pork to food banks, amounting to more than 2.7 million servings, to Illinois residents since the program began in 2008.
“IPPA has pushed the Pork Power program forward, and we really thought it was important to get out there right now. So, pork producers have already provided 20,000 pounds of meat to the different distribution centers in the state since the first of the year,” Haag explained.
“I really enjoy this because when I was president of the Pork Producers I was handing those meat donations and picked up awards on behalf of the Pork Producers from the Central Illinois Food Bank in Springfield and Eastern Illinois Food Bank in Urbana for what we’ve done as pork producers.
“But then you come to this side and you see the people who actually donate their time, give to this organization and just watching it through the process is very humbling.”
Farmer Extension
Mike and Trisha’s children, Kaleb, Brooke and Kacie, also enjoy volunteering at the food pantry, and Mike believes this work is an extension of the family’s crop and swine production.
“I just feel this is an extension as an agricultural producer here in the United States. Making sure people are fed is just natural for agricultural producers. It’s not only important that we provide food for the grocery stores, but that we also make sure people have food in our communities,” Haag said.
By The Numbers
According to data collected by Feeding America, there are nearly 1.4 million Illinois residents struggling with hunger, including over 453,000 children.