Rising inflation, food costs hitting Escambia charity just as hard as its clients

Shawndray Franklin moved to Pensacola from Minnesota almost 10 years ago to help care for an uncle who has health problems. They rent a place together, but each month money is so tight they sometimes have to make tough decisions.

“Costs are just so high,” Franklin said. “It makes it hard for people, you must sacrifice. Do I have enough money for rent? Should I sacrifice on less food? You shouldn’t have to sacrifice living. We didn’t choose to be here, but we are here.”

Franklin is a trained healthcare specialist but spends most of her time as caregiver to her uncle. She picks up a little work here and there doing household chores for others, including the elderly, but making ends meet isn’t easy.

For the past two years, she has been coming regularly to Ministry Village at Olive, an outreach organization that provides food, clothes, toiletries and other services, like power bill assistance and addiction recovery programs, to help people who are struggling get back on their feet.

Franklin is among a growing number of people who visit the nonprofit on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when the ministry provides hot meals, bags of food for folks who are transient, as well as boxes of food for individuals and families. She took some home for herself and her uncle.

“I don't want to be greedy because there are a lot of people that need help, but I appreciate them,” Franklin said. “I do appreciate them. I've been coming here for a while.”

Last year, Ministry Village provided 1,848 groceries for individuals and 2,710 bags of food for those who are homeless.

Boxes of groceries includes staples like rice, beans, cereal and peanut butter, as well as canned goods including canned meat, a high-demand item. The demand for groceries is so great that the organization has been forced to cut back to one box for the same person every six months.

The individual bags of food are loaded with non-perishable items like what someone might take camping, pop-top cans of food and snacks. Those bags are provided on a weekly basis.

So far this year, Ministry Village has already given groceries to 534 individuals and provided 638 bags of food to people who are homeless. Those who work at the nonprofit would like to do more, but food costs have gone up dramatically along with the need for it.

For example, a box of groceries that could feed a family of four for at least a few days cost the ministry about $50 two years ago. Now, the same box of food costs $85. Individual and business donations are also down. The grocery stores and food banks that donate food to the ministry often run low and don’t have as much to give.

“Even the amount of donations that we're seeing come in has dropped because where you would maybe do a buy one, get one free and give us the one that you got for free, now you're keeping it because you're going to need it because you can't afford to buy food,” explained Drayton Smith, executive director of Ministry Village at Olive.

Some who come to Ministry Village are homeless and struggling with addiction or mental health issues. Others who come to the nonprofit for help have homes but are barely getting by because rents, insurance rates and utility bills are so high.

Joseph Cooler was laid off from his job as a truck driver. He now lives with family in Santa Rosa County, otherwise he said he would be homeless himself. He came Tuesday for a box of groceries to help stretch their resources while he is applying for unemployment.

“Since COVID it's been one thing after another in my life,” Cooler said. “I’ve lost family and then the company I was working for consolidated and laid off a whole bunch of truckers. I just go to places like this and try to get whatever I can, because all my life I either worked two or three jobs or was independent. I appreciate they have places like this.”

Kimmy Johnson works for Ministry Village and is involved in their Tender Hearts Caring Hands program, which includes providing food and power bill assistance. The ministry will provide up to $200 for power bills. During the month of June alone, Johnson said there were 211 calls for power bill assistance. Not everyone received money, however last year the ministry paid 482 power bills.

“I've noticed a lot of job loss,” Johnson said. “A lot of people that just lost their jobs and can't seem to find another job, so there’s that gap in between. I've noticed people that have taken in family members’ kids. There was an instance last week where a family had taken in three or four kids for a family member. A lot of the need for help goes back to rent being high and not being able to afford food.”

Ministry Village also provides showers and helps connect people with other outreach services and opportunities for jobs, and addiction treatment.

If you’d like to help, Smith said they take monetary as well as food donations, but they can stretch dollars further through partnerships with food banks. You can also donate to Ministry Village through Amazon.