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Wednesday's Internet Edition, 8:27 PM, March 10, 2010.
Longtime director recalls history of local food pantry
By DAVID HEDGES Publisher - It was nearly a quarter of a century ago, but Janet Davis remembers a time when the last thing she wanted to see was a stick of butter. It was in 1986, shortly after she became director of the county’s new emergency food pantry.
Roane County Helping Hand, which marks its 25th anniversary of operation this month, was started the year before.
Already a volunteer, Davis was asked to head up the fledging organization after Tom Rice, who was director the first 10 months, died of a heart attack.
“Somebody, I don’t remember who, asked me if I could keep it going for a while until they got a director,” she said. “I had no idea what I was getting into. I told them I would try.”
That was 24 years ago, and Davis is still the director.
At the time, Davis, now 75, was a homemaker with five of her six children still at home.
Helping Hand had just moved from a two-room office on Church Street to larger accommodations at Spencer State Hospital.
A few months later, in June, Davis received a call from someone at the state hospital telling her the butter they had stored in the hospital’s freezers had to be moved.
“There was 1,100 lbs. of butter and it had to be out the next day because a shipment of meat was coming in,” she said. “I had no idea there was even any butter there.”
Davis said the temperature was near 100 degrees, and she had until noon the next day to find a home for more than half a ton of butter.
She called local ministers and anyone else she could think of.
“I called everyone I knew to see if they had any room in their refrigerator or freezer,” she said.
Finding places to store that much butter was only part of the problem. It still had to be moved.
Her two youngest sons, Kane and Keith, both in grade school at the time, were called on to help, as was her husband, Charles, before he left for work at Kaiser Aluminum.
Her husband got a trailer, and they began hauling butter to refrigerators and freezers everywhere.
One food pantry volunteer had a vacant apartment that they said she could use. The only problem was, it was a second-story apartment.
“It was a big old house and we carried butter up two flights of stairs,” she said.
“I went everywhere to find people who could use it,” she said. “I found storage for the rest of it. None of it went to waste.”
Davis also recalls something that happened even before she became director.
Helping Hand decided to raffle off a half a beef to raise funds.
Just before the drawing, Davis learned only a handful of tickets were sold. Since the beef had to be purchased, the agency was in jeopardy of losing a lot of money.
She decided the only thing to do was hit the streets during the Black Walnut Festival and sell tickets.
“I put a sign on myself and walked all around the festival,” she said. “I felt like a fool, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
She managed to sell several tickets and, as luck would have it, the eventual winner was generous and asked only for a few steaks and a roast instead of half a beef.
“That turned out good for us,” she said.
Davis has been with Helping Hand in all five of its locations, which have included the American Legion Hall on Front Street, the Hillcrest Baptist Church annex and, for the past two years, two rooms at the Roane Committee on Aging.
The helpers are down to a few, including board members Juanita Dale, Sharon Golden and treasurer Thelda Hughes, as well as others who help unload trucks from the Mountaineer Food Bank once a month or work on Wednesdays when the food is distributed.
“We’re all volunteers,” she said. “Nobody gets paid.”
Davis said the Spencer-Roane Ministerial Association started Helping Hand after the local community action agency closed.
“There was no place for people to go,” she said. “They were going to all the ministers and they decided they had to do something.”
The group was chartered in 1984 and started serving the public in March the following year.
The pantry relies on government surplus along with food purchased locally with donations from individuals, school and civic groups and churches, some of whom conduct their own food drives.
“It’s amazing what all these little churches do to keep us going,” she said. “There’s no way we could function without the help of the public and the people who work here.”
Helping Hand receives a truckload with about three tons of surplus food once a month, and spends another $900 to $1,200 monthly to buy items Davis said run anywhere from applesauce to tuna.
When Davis took over, she said there was no record keeping system to track the food, so she started one of her own she still uses today.
It’s all done with pencil and paper because, according to Davis, “We’re all older people and most of us don’t use computers.”
The pantry serves about 85 families a month, who are limited to four visits per year. They must be residents of Roane County and meet income guidelines.
“There are a lot of people who don’t have enough money or food stamps to get them through the month,” she said. “We try to help them as much as we can.
“I know what it’s like to feed a family,” she said, “and I don’t know how they make it with what they get.”
Davis said she first became a volunteer after her pastor at the local Catholic church asked her if she would give it a try.
“I said yes, and this is here it’s taken me,” she said. “We are God’s agent and we are called to minister to the poor. I think the rest of the people who work here feel the same way.”
Davis said more volunteers are needed. Those interested can call Helping Hand Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 304-927-4966.
And she promises those who agree to help won’t have to find a home for half a ton of butter.
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