On Monday, February 8th, 2016, my group had an interview with Sister Mary, who works at the Saint John’s Bread of Life Food Pantry. We learned many different things about how Saint John’s Bread of Life Pantry works and we also learned many personal stories of people who have to rely on Saint John’s for food. One of the most interesting things that I learned was that Saint John’s Food Pantry doesn’t just supply bags of food every Wednesday. They also supply free flu shots and every month, a person comes in to help register and inform people about SNAP (food stamps) and Medicare. We also learned that many people come to their pantry for companionship. Mar explained how many of their clients live alone and many of them are senior citizens who are living off of a fixed income. We also learned that many of Saint John’s clients are low-wage workers who rely on Saint John’s to “fill in their food gaps,” especially towards the end of the month. I also learned that Saint John’s packages around 400 bags every Wednesday. This means that around 400 people come to Saint John’s each week to get food. Sister Mary also talked about how she became involved with working with Saint John’s Food Pantry. Apparently, after Sister Mary retired, people from Saint John’s church told her about the pantry and she began to work with them each week. What I learned the most from this interview is that space and funding are the biggest factors at how a food pantry/soup kitchen runs. Sister Mary talked about how there isn’t enough space at Saint John’s to allow people to choose their own foods. She also talked about how most of the pantry’s funding comes from yearly donations. Overall, this interview was extremely informative and useful.
