Miss Virginia’s Food Pantry, a non-profit organization serving the city’s southeast side, continues to provide food to the poor and needy in the spirit of its foundress, Virginia Schrantz from her original residence on South Hanna Street.
Her selfless work and forty plus years of constant assistance to her neighbors, no questions asked, eventually gave a voice to the members of society in need of support.
Equally important, she inspired greater community involvement from schools and other organizations to help with her mission.
WBOI’s Julia Meek discusses the scope of its mission with board president Dan McNamara and board member Tony Henry, and how present-day challenges to food security and good nutrition are being met.
You can learn more and get involved at Miss Virginia’s Food Pantry website.
Here’s a transcription of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Dan McNamara, Tony Henry, welcome.
Dan McNamara: Thank you.
Tony Henry: Hello. Thank you.
Julia Meek: Now things are cooking over at Miss Virginia's Food Pantry these days, thanks to a sizable donation from the St Joseph Community Foundation. Dan, would you remind us very briefly, the mission of this wonderful grassroots organization?
Dan McNamara: Sure, the mission of Miss Virginia's food pantry is to provide balanced and nutritional food to those in need with no questions asked.
Julia Meek: A noble goal and gotta eat, gotta eat.
Dan McNamara: That’s right.
Julia Meek: And okay, Tony, this has been a good shepherd facility on that Southeast side for over 40 years. What can you tell us about the shepherdess herself? Miss Virginia Schrantz?
Tony Henry: Oh gosh. I remember her back in, oh, my high school years. My father would often talk about her and her charisma. Said there was a saintly lady living on Hannah Street, and you've got to meet her. And my dad took us as children there to meet her. And when you meet her, you don't forget her. She was a lady filled with piety,
Julia Meek: And wanted everybody in her city to be their best they could.
Tony Henry: Yes, yes. She was a neighborhood leader, and she was always meeting their needs. And as we know, her home was in an existent neighborhood at that time that was just really very much riddled with poverty,
Julia Meek: And everybody did appreciate Miss Virginia and her home to be sure.
Tony Henry: Oh, oh yes, absolutely.
Julia Meek: Now her ability to help the neighbors actually help each other was legend. You know, how is that spirit, that drive, kept relevant through the foundation that has become Miss Virginia's food pantry?
Tony Henry: As a society, we are seeing more and more of hunger. Fact that just recently, I heard that the school lunch program many, many children are getting free lunches now.
Food is so necessary for quality of life, and because Miss Virginia was always giving food to people in need, we see that, at the time right now, there's such a dire need for basic nutritional food that we stepped up and are really carrying out her call to feed the hungry.
Dan McNamara: Yeah, the heart of our operation is our Balanced and Nutritional Food Program. It's something we developed back in 2015 or 2016 when we took a long, hard look at the types of food that we were distributing to our guests, and frankly, what we were giving out was nothing more than what was being donated to us, and some of that wasn't healthy food.
So, a conscious decision was made back in 2016 to come up with a set menu of items that would be nutritious. And so now to this day, we carry on with our Balanced and Nutritional Food Program whereby each guest receives a meat item, a dozen eggs, bread, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and some canned good items.
So, we hope that you know, at least two or three meals a week for our guests will be healthy and nutritious.
Julia Meek: And as a matter of fact, today, the 46803 zip code is the poorest in the state, and that's one of the biggest areas that you serve. What does that do to your already at-risk population? What are they and you up against there with all of the extra strain?
Dan McNamara: Well, food prices have really hit hard, and we're located in the 46802 zip code area. we serve people in the 46802, 46803, 46806 and 46816 from the data that we collect. So, we serve quite a bit of the inner city with the Balanced and Nutritional Food Program.
Julia Meek: And it does give them hope. Would you say, would they have a chance for food without this?
Dan McNamara: Well, there are a lot of food pantries in town. I don't know that there are many that set up to the scale that we operate under. We're only open two days a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 10am to 1pm so we aren't open more than just a few hours, six hours a week, but we process quite a number of visitors through our facility in that time, and so, there's no question that the need is great,
Julia Meek: And X amount of families with X amount of people in them, count on you for food.
Dan McNamara: Yeah, yeah. Back in 2023 our numbers were that we had about 45,000 guest visits, which represented 152,000 family household members. And that was an increase. Our 2023 number was up 23% over 2022 and 65% over 2021.
So, the need has really increased, and in fact, that's continuing through the second quarter of 2024, guest visits were up 21% over the second quarter of 2023, so something is driving people to our door, and whether it's high food prices or the end of covid programs, we're not really sure.
But something is really driving quite an increase that has strained our budget quite a bit.
Julia Meek: And you know that part of the drive is the hunger that exists and the lack of food?
Tony Henry: Yes, and I think too, what's driving that number up is that people who might be a first-time visiting family see the quality of food that Miss Virginia is providing, it speaks volumes to them. And, and we're okay with that. We want to feed families healthy food.
Julia Meek: Real food.
Tony Henry: Yes.
Julia Meek: Since balanced nutrition is endangered across the demographic, some say, how is this amplified in your own food insecurity zone? What food's there for people? If they did have the money, what could they find?
Dan McNamara: Well, we're located in what is known as a food desert in the 02 zip code, so there aren't grocery stores in close proximity to where our guests live.
So, we find that we fill a gap that exists from this food desert that exists in Fort Wayne. And it's not the only neighborhood that has a food desert, but we're right in the middle of one.
Julia Meek: One of the worst ones, statistically, yes, yes. Okay, a $35,000 grant funding your 2024, balanced and nutritional food program. Those are big numbers. So just what can that mean to all facets of Miss Virginia's Food Pantry, the whole operation?
Dan McNamara: Well, we have a pretty lean budget. We operate with a budget of about $260,000 a year, and the fact is that 63% of that, or $164,000 goes toward the purchases of food. So, we put our money into the food that we distribute.
For the most part, our Payroll Expense is just 8% of our total budget, so a lot of the money that we raise goes directly toward purchasing the food. We try to keep it as lean as we can.
Julia Meek: And you also count on a lot of volunteer contribution in all areas.
Tony Henry: Yes. Interestingly, we have noticed a lot has to do with our reaching out to the community, but to the farmers. We have a number of farms like Kurtz' Farm and Cook Orchards and Smucker Farms, who are actually bringing in produce for us.
Often, we have to pick it up, and we do have a truck, by the way, it's in dire need of some repairs right now, and so we're working on fundraising to kind of raise that vehicle up. We need that vehicle. It's a real asset to have a running truck. So, we're working on that.
But a lot of our farms out there heard of us. They've seen our operation, and once they see it, they continue to donate their goods that are coming close to ripening, and they want to see it get into the hands of people who will enjoy nutritional, healthy fruits and vegetables.
Dan McNamara: Yeah, one of the more amazing things about Miss Virginia's is that we're in almost all volunteer operation. We only have one paid staff person, and that's our Pantry Director, Greg Witte, who is paid a modest stipend.
He's grossly underpaid and does a terrific job organizing and running our operation, but we have about 56 dedicated and hardworking volunteers who come in every week, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to work at the pantry.
And that includes people, not just in the serving lines, but back in the warehouse, guys taking food off the truck, going to pick up food, inventorying it, sorting it and bagging it for taking it up to the front. We also have a working board of directors.
By that, I mean, you know, a lot of our directors provide services in addition to just serving as directors. So for example, all of our technical advice, our bookkeeping services, we have board members who write grant applications throughout the year, and all of that is donated time.
Julia Meek: Which is not only amazing and not only commendable and righteous, some would say, it's absolutely essential. In this case, it sounds like do you have room for more volunteers? Are there more jobs to be done?
Dan McNamara: There are.
Julia Meek: Always?
Dan McNamara: Yes. About 52% of the food that we distribute is donated. So, we have to buy about 48% of the food that we distribute, but about 52% of it is donated through food drives from schools and churches and civic organizations. And that's a huge help to us.
We also receive donations from bakeries and grocery stores, for example, Bimbo's bread, Panera and Trader Joe's. And we grow our own food. We started our own urban garden a couple of years ago, and we're now up to 12 beds.
We ask our guests what it is that they would like us to grow for them. So, we're taking it straight from the garden in to serve our guests and their food items that they have a preference for.
Julia Meek: Do you see a sense of pride or feeling good about themselves because you do take the trouble and the care to see what they would like?
Dan McNamara: Yeah. People are so grateful when they come through our lines. It's always astonished me that, you know, it's a humbling experience to have to come through a food line, I'm sure, and, and yet people are so gracious and express their gratitude to us as they come through the line. I've worked those lines, and it's always heartwarming to be able to engage with our guests.
Tony Henry: And speaking of that garden that we have planted on the lot that's adjacent to the home, our guests as they're leaving the pantry, they walk by that garden, and they see the tomatoes and the green peppers and the cucumbers that are growing, and it speaks of life and of health.
And I can't imagine how Virginia Schrantz, the foundress. She'd be so proud of seeing her land being turned into a garden that's feeding the masses, and we're doing it so well. It's just wonderful to see that!
Julia Meek: What a testimonial.
Tony Henry: Yes.
Julia Meek: So, besides all that, how else can you reach more people to do more things through this program?
Dan McNamara: Well, September is Hunger Awareness Month, and every year, in September, we send out a letter asking for donations to a very generous group of quite regular donors, and the response is always terrific.
Tony Henry: I think it's important too, and we've been looking at this collectively, the board, about Planned Giving. It'd be nice to really have some security in knowing that in the next year or two, we'd have enough, you know, to cover our expenses if we were to go into a crisis. I mean, who knows?
Covid could be lurking again at a greater pandemic. So, we're hoping that when people consider doing their estate planning, that Miss Virginia's would be a recipient of their benevolence to keep us moving forward and, and will give us a greater sense of security that hunger in this neighborhood, in the greater community at large will be met through our balanced nutritional program.
Julia Meek: Oh, indeed, what a wonderful suggestion that you're giving them. We look forward to hearing more on the success of that program. So, thank you for that, and now your location downtown, in what some folks call the Corridor of Care, that's a righteous place to be, figuratively as well as literally, right now. Can you keep the faith and hope alive where you are with what you're doing, do you think?
Dan McNamara: Well, there's just such tremendous energy there with our volunteers and the engagement that they have with our guests. And we call them our guests. Greg Witte, our pantry director, has chosen to use this as an identifier.
But there's such great engagement between our volunteers and our guests as they come through the line. And the generosity of our volunteers, I mean, they logged almost 11,000 hours of volunteer time in 2023 and they do so with such full hearts and are so gracious and treat our guests with such dignity and respect that you have to have hope.
You have to believe that we're doing a good service and that things are going to get better.
Tony Henry: I think too, our guests coming into that home know they're going into a sacred place. Miss Virginia's charisma, the fruits of her spirit, that live in that home. In fact, in the hallway, as folks come in, we'll find a picture of Miss Virginia and Mother Teresa, who came to the home and visited the home in the 1980s.
And this picture is beautiful. The two of them are embracing. It's lovely, and it just speaks volumes. So those people that walk into that home, you know, there was a time, Julia, that we made a big board decision about, do we keep this home, or do we build a new facility?
And the consensus was that this was her home, and who knows, some days she could be beatified. That takes a long time in our tradition for sainthood. But this was her home. This is where she slept, and this is where she welcomed so many, even the animals in the neighborhood, they'd come into the dogs and the cats.
She didn't turn anybody away. So this is a shrine. We've got a gem of a place, and it's doing great, great works.
Julia Meek: Great faith and hope, radiating.
Tony Henry: Yeah, yeah.
Dan McNamara: And as our entire community pushes for equity and accessibility and food freedom for all, those are big issues right now, those are big goals for our entire community. In your minds, what's the most important thing we can all do to help? Large, small, wat can everybody do?
Tony Henry: Raising people's awareness about food and food shortages, and be mindful of the food that we're buying and what's left? Hand it on to those who are less fortunate.
We need to come to that awareness that food is expensive, more now than ever, and others can benefit from that which we don't really, perhaps need, and we should hand it on to those agencies that are doing the work of feeding the hungry.
Julia Meek: So, you're saying, really, awareness?
Tony Henry: Yes.
Dan McNamara: You know, we operate entirely off of the generosity of our donors. And the fact of the matter is that things are tight right now because we've hit this sort of perfect storm of the end of Covid benefits and increased food prices. And so, our numbers, our need, is way up.
We see that in the numbers of visits that we're having. And as I pointed out earlier, you know, the increases are dramatic, and so it has really stretched our budget. So frankly, we need contributions from businesses, individuals and foundations.
Julia Meek: Large or small, any size?`
Dan McNamara: Any size.
Julia Meek: It's what it takes, and you've got the power to do it. You've proved it for years. Can you continue?
Dan McNamara: Yeah, we've never turned anyone away. As tight as things have gotten in recent years, we've never turned anyone away, and we haven't really reduced what we give out. We give out quite a bit of food to people who come through.
We probably have a reputation for the quality of the food that we give out, but we've never turned anyone away. And we don't want to be in a position where we have to turn anyone away.
Julia Meek: I hope you never are, and with help from the community you won't be. And, as we remember Miss Virginia for her vision, determination, crazy hard work and especially sense of place, what should it teach us about our own?
Tony Henry: Miss Virginia's simplicity and her choosing to live a life of really, of so little, and our first American saint, Elizabeth Seaton said, you know, live simply so others might simply live.
Miss Virginia reminds me so much of Mother Teresa, with what she did for the poor. And our Dorothy Day is another great worker that served the poor in New York City and became famous because of her virtue of reaching out to, you know, to the homeless.
And we have a special lady, Miss Virginia, whose virtue lives so much and is incarnated so much in our volunteers and our board members that I believe that it's going to live on her ministry for many years to come. That's my conviction.
Dan McNamara: Well, she set such a great example for us, and to be carrying on in her footsteps is a gift to me. To have service in my life is something that's very rewarding. And you know, I do, I consider that a gift from Miss Virginia.
Julia Meek: Dan McNamara is board president and Tony Henry board member, long-time advocate and fundraiser of Miss Virginia's Food Pantry. Thank you for your dedication and for sharing your story with us, guys. Keep up the good work. Do carry the gift.
Dan McNamara: Thank you.
Tony Henry: Thank you.
