By Holly Kline
People may find it hard to believe that a need for food pantries exists in Fishers; however, food insecurity is a reality for a number of area families. Several food pantries around the Fishers area distribute food and personal items on a regular basis and these organizations count on donations from individuals and community groups.
Come-To-Me Food Pantry at Fishers United Methodist Church, 9690 E. 116th St., is just one local organization dedicated to providing help all year long.
“People don’t think there is a need in Fishers,” said Linda Williams, director of Come-To-Me. “We had a difficult time when we wanted to get started seven years ago because people said, ‘This is Fishers, there can’t be a problem here.’”
Debbie Driskell, Delaware Township trustee, agreed that some Fishers residents may not be aware of the need for food assistance. Her office runs a food pantry out of the Delaware Township building at 9090 E. 131st St. in Fishers. The pantry served 880 households in 2013 and distributed 34,408 pounds of food, household supplies and personal items.
Fishers Rotary is one community organization working to help end food insecurity. Last year the group partnered with Come-To-Me to provide 10 tomato plants to food pantry families. “Several families said what they liked about the plants was that they felt like it was a positive thing they had control over in their lives,” said Michele Whelchel, Fishers Rotary president. “It helped emotionally and helped provide food so we will expand this coming spring with more vegetable plants and more families.”
Whelchel said that Fishers Rotary will donate this year to the Sally Burton Food Pantry at St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church and to Food 4 Souls, which distributes to the homeless in downtown Indianapolis. In fact, this is the time of year when food pantries count on a surge of donations.
“People think about giving food at this time of the year,” said Come-To-Me’s Williams. “We take in more now than at any other time during the year and we need to have that food in the pantry so we can distribute it all year-round.”
Interested in helping? Most area food pantries accept food and/or financial donations. Check their websites for details. “We want to help people get food,” Williams reiterated. “The need is greater than we all believe.”
