Neighbors in need will now be able to get more than just food from Brookfield’s Share Food Share Love food pantry.
This month, the pantry launched its new Families First program, which provides visitors with access to free items for women and babies, including diapers, baby wipes, formula and menstrual products like pads and tampons.
John Dumas, Share Food Share Love’s administrative director, told the Landmark the program was born out of a partnership with another organization in town last year.
“We don’t collect an enormous amount of information about the folks that come to the pantry, but we do collect demographic information, and we do know that single mothers and women in general are a big part of the people we serve, so we felt that was something we needed to address,” he said. “We started working with the Brookfield Women’s Club on a program to provide feminine hygiene products.”
Dumas said about two-thirds of neighbors who visit the food pantry are women. The pantry serves 20-25 single mothers each month out of roughly 600 people, he added, a rate of about 4%.
“They may represent their whole family, but it’s the women that come to the pantry. That was what started it with us, because [we knew] the numbers are bigger, but I think we were all kind of surprised at what the difference really was there,” he said. “It’s the same story that you have with everything else that folks are facing. They have to make choices, and if they get food, maybe they can afford some other things, and it’s the same thought process.”
In the year after the collaboration with the Women’s Club started, “it became apparent,” Dumas said, that the program wasn’t meeting all the needs of the pantry’s visitors, so it crafted the new version to rope in the needs of babies and young children.
In the past, Dumas said the pantry would give out similar items it had received as donations to people in need, but it didn’t specifically ask for or advertise them.
“We realize that when you start any new program, it’s never perfect at the beginning, but we are committed, as time goes on, to continue to expand that and get to a point where we can confidently offer baby-type products to families,” he said. “I’ve never really been around that many babies, so I had no idea what we were getting into, myself. Other folks have been doing a lot more work on this, and I’m really proud of the effort that our development team has put into this.”
Last week, the food pantry asked residents to donate items to the program off its Amazon wish list while items were discounted through Amazon Prime Days, which ran from July 8-11.
“It’s been a tremendous response. It’s really been great,” Dumas said. “It’s a significant amount. We’re getting six, eight, 10 packages a day, every day this week … We see that it’s relatable. Women hear about this, and they know what it’s like to need, whether it’s for your baby or yourself, those kinds of products.”
He added that anyone out there who may find themselves struggling to make ends meet is welcome to visit the pantry for whatever they may need, whether that’s food, menstrual products or goods for babies; in fact, pantry staff make an effort to keep the process dignified.
“It runs through our entire operation. There are many people who are embarrassed to come for food, too, that they have to admit they need help … We have this stuff, whether it’s food or these products or whatever, and if we don’t have things, we have a lot of resources, and we have access to a lot of things,” Dumas said. “There really isn’t any need for folks to have to suffer through life without getting the things that they need when there are resources out there that will help them. It’s not 100% perfect, but we can usually find things that they need if we don’t have them.”
