The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that prices for groceries are rising at rates not seen since 1990. At the wholesale level, wheat prices are up nearly 50% since the beginning of this year. Staples such as corn and soybeans are selling at record prices. That, coupled with the high cost of fuel, is why consumers are seeing higher prices at the grocery store. Food banks throughout the state are seeing more and more people in need of their serves.
In the eastern panhandle, an organization called Angel Food Ministries provides groceries at low cost.
The cafeteria of Jefferson County’s newest school, Washington High, was bustling with activity on a recent Saturday morning. Dozens of volunteers unloaded 16 tons of food off a tractor trailer. They formed an assembly line to sort and box the food for customers from all over the area.
Oakland United Methodist Church in Charles Town began distributing Angel Food when requests for help increased about two years ago. Jack Zaleski is Oakland’s operations manager:
“Angel Food was a program that was up and running,” Zaleski says. “It was basically something we take off the shelf and just implement locally rather than try to start our own local food bank or things like that. And this is not a food bank, it's groceries. And it doesn’t replace a trip to Martin’s but what it does is lets you spend your money on groceries in such a way that you have more money available for rent, for gas and utilities.”
Pastors Joe and Linda Wingo founded Angel Food Ministries in 1994 to help feed families in Monroe Georgia who were affected by plant closings. Currently churches in 35 states offer Angel Food to anyone wanting to buy it. Angel Food keeps the cost low by buying food in volume and having volunteers distribute it. Oakland’s Angel Food co-director Terri Zaleski says a regular box of food costs $30 dollars and is intended to feed a family of four for a week.
“It’s a way to help out without it being a handout,” Zaleski says. “The customers they have their pride. They’re not just going to go ‘give me some food.’ They’re putting something in.”
Each month Angel Food customers can order a regular box with things like meat, vegetables, rice, milk and eggs. There’s also a box geared toward seniors and single people that has ten prepackaged meals. Most of the food is frozen. Anyone ordering a regular or senior box can also get additional boxes called specials. They offer extra fruit, vegetables and meat. Oakland co-director Jill Schweitzer says each month demand for Angel Food seems to grow:
“People have just realized what a good deal it is and how much they spend in the grocery store and this is such a savings,” Schweitzer says. “You get so much more food for the cost compared to grocery store shopping. And I think the economy is making a big impact on this.”
Karen Crowell gives back to the community by volunteering each month sorting and handing out Angel Food. Crowell says people from all walks of life buy the food:
“From our senior citizens up through young couples with young children, and everybody in between,” Crowell says. “There’s no economic gap there. It’s just everybody can do it.
What kind of comments do they make?
“That they really appreciate us. It’s a big help to them. One mother said that her daughter came and raids her pantry all the time so it’s a big help for her.”
The volunteers have been working since around seven in the morning to unload the truck and sort the food. Around 11, customers are in line to pick up their purchases. Some have been buying Angel Food for a year or two. Others are trying it for the first time:
“I think it’s wonderful. This is my first time being here. We’ve never tried it before. It’s my mom and I. So we’re excited to see how it turns out.”
“It’s a lot cheaper than any grocery stores. The quality is good. It’s saving us what? A couple hundred dollars a month or better? At least a couple hundred or better dollars a month.”
“We usually get two containers of the regular box and a box of the fruit and that usually lasts at least a month for us.”
“Right now it’s just me, my husband and my grandson. Which if you count the grandson that’s four! The food is very good, very good. The vegetables and the meat are very good and it’s fresh and the milk, it’s very nutritional really.”
Oakland United Methodist Church is one of 46 across West Virginia that distributes Angel Food. Each month customers place orders on the Internet or through a local church. Terri Zaleski says food banks sometimes use Angel Food to supplement what they offer. And often people will purchase boxes that can be donated to needy families.