With the COVID-19 public health crisis keeping businesses closed due to an ongoing shelter-at-home order, some Morgan Hill residents have been forced to visit the food pantry for the first time just to receive basic provisions.
On April 3, a steady line of cars grew longer throughout the afternoon to pick up groceries at the Reach Out Food Pantry at St. Catherine Church on Peak Avenue. Volunteer Carol Lillig said by the time the pantry closed for the day, volunteers served 22 families with a week’s supply of groceries; six of those had never been to a food pantry. That’s up from the typical pre-pandemic average of about 10 families.
Other communities have reported food pantry demands skyrocketing by hundreds of families in the first couple of weeks of the pandemic.
Volunteers expect the demand for donated groceries to grow as long as people are required to stay at home. A mother who visited Reach Out for the first time April 3 works at a local hotel; but the hotel is closed, and the woman has been out of work and without income, Lillig explained. Another new client earlier in the week is a bartender. But with bars and restaurants closed, bartenders and many other hospitality employees are not making any wages.
Because of social distancing and other hygiene guidelines mandated by the health orders, the food pantry has set up a drive-through system. Clients pull up outside the food pantry trailer while a volunteer approaches each vehicle to ask what their household and dietary needs are. Volunteers then return inside the trailer and retrieve the groceries, and the families don’t have to exit their vehicles.
While demand is up, donations are not, said Debbie Molyneaux, who has volunteered at the food pantry for 25 years. Some groceries, such as eggs and meat, are scarce at the food pantry.
Those wanting to make donations can drop off money or groceries—particularly non-perishable items like canned food—at the Reach Out Food Pantry, 17400 Peak Ave. The pantry is open 1 to 2:30pm Tuesday through Friday.
A new volunteer at Reach Out is Daniel T., an HVAC electrician who has also been out of work since the March 17 stay-home order went into effect. Instead of working, he has been helping distribute groceries to those in need every day. Daniel said he has been a member of St. Catherine Parish since he was 13, and he wanted to give back.
Hot meals, groceries available
Morgan Hill has many other resources for families and individuals in need of extra assistance during the economic slowdown. Many of these resources are supplied by Second Harvest Food Bank, which serves families in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
Weekly hot meals are available, to go, at the following locations and times:
• St. Catherine Church, 17400 Peak Ave., 6 to 7pm Mondays;
• Advent Lutheran Church, 16870 Murphy Ave., 5 to 6pm Wednesdays;
• Community Christian Church, 305 West Main Ave., 6 to 7pm Thursdays;
• Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church, 16970 DeWitt Ave., first and third Fridays of the month.
There are also weekly grocery distributions at the following locations and times:
• P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy and Community Christian, 9 to 10am the fourth Wednesday of the month;
• People that Care, 145 Wright Ave., 5 to 6:30pm second Tuesday of the month;
• Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center, 17000 Monterey Road, 11:30am to 1pm the second Tuesday of the month.
