At a time when families are dealing with a rise in price on food necessities, two local food pantries say they’re seeing a surging number of struggling clients in recent months. At the same time, those same pantries have been seeing support for their food supplies drying up, leading to concerns about how they’re going to help all the families who come to them for aid.

Leaders of the Agape food pantry in Warrenton told The Record this week that their current demand for food services is as high as 50% more than average, at a time when two federal programs that help feed the poor have been drastically cut back. One of those programs, SNAP, provides vouchers for families to purchase certain foods, while a USDA-sponsored emergency food program supplies donated food to community pantries.

Both programs are meant to supplement household food supplies when needed, but Agape Executive Director Michelle Bernth said households often only rely on one program or the other. Following the decline of the COVID pandemic, Bernth said funding for both programs was scaled back, so struggling families don’t have as much access to either resource.

Combined with spiking food prices, those factors have come together in a perfect storm that’s draining the shelves of many food pantries faster than they can be replenished.

“All the assistance was high at the same time (during COVID), and now it’s low all at the same time, which is a killer,” Bernth noted.

“We have the lowest inventory we’ve ever had since I’ve been here,” confirmed Agape logistics manager Phil Marshall. He said that a normal month for the pantry would have about 450-500 client visits, but that their most recent month saw over 600 visits. The number of new families calling for assistance has also increased significantly.

Contrary to that need, the amount of food coming into the pantry has dropped from about 50,000 pounds per month down to 35,000 per month, Marshall said — a 30% decline.

“During COVID we had a big influx in our stock and built it up. But for the last year, we’ve been giving out more than is coming in. We’re at the point now where we can’t continue at that rate,” Marshall explained.

Looking at another prominent food pantry in the area, the Wright City Community Food Pantry, similar challenges have been arising. Although that pantry serves a smaller number of people, pantry head Joe Purl said his organization is getting about 20% more weekly visits than what is normal.

“I’m seeing especially new families that have never come. I’m talking to single moms with children who say ‘I’ve never been to a food pantry before, but I need help,’” Purl said.

He went on to say that the Wright City pantry is seeing a supply shortage of its own, particularly with perishable food items that were previously donated by grocery store partners.

“That’s dried up. There’s not that kind of excess anymore, grocery stores are not ordering on that type of scale to have that excess anymore,” said Purl. That means the Wright City pantry has to try to find ways to fund its food need that used to be supplied through donations.

As the population in Wright City and Warren County continue to grow, Purl added that he’s only expecting these challenges to continue growing as well, meaning the pantry will have to find new and creative ways to continue feeding the poor.

Representatives of both food pantries in Warrenton and Wright City said there are several ways for supportive community members to help with their need.

First of all, funding goes a long way for this service. Pantries are buying food and household goods on a scale and from suppliers that offer savings for the amount of food they’re procuring.

For those who want to stock the shelves directly, businesses, churches, and community organizations can all consider hosting regular food drives to help provide a consistent supply of durable food goods.

Finally, anyone and everyone with a home garden or farm where they grow fresh produce is welcome to provide any extra they have to the pantries so that those goods can get into the hands of neighbors in need.

To contact the Agape food pantry, call 636-456-4645, or go online to www.agapemo.org.

To contact the Wright City Community Food Pantry, go online to facebook.com/WCCommunityFoodPantry.