The UpRiver Pantry sits on the banks of the Row River, 15 miles southeast of Cottage Grove. It is one of 20 pantries that partner with FFLC to serve rural Lane County. Another 13 pantries serve Eugene and Springfield.
The pantry is especially important for neighbors who rely on it for food. And that number is steadily going up. A year ago, pantry volunteers served on average 80 people in a busy month. In December, they served twice that many.
It is a cold day in January. Inside, half a dozen tables are filled with food from FFLC — canned goods, dry beans, noodles, peanut butter, bread and more. Three large coolers on the floor are filled with frozen meats, deli foods and dairy.
THIS FOOD IS EXTREMELY HELPFUL
Marty Pendergraft runs the pantry with the help of volunteers Chris and Margo. Being able to share this food with their neighbors makes them all feel good. Marty, Chris and Margo also get groceries from the pantry when their shifts are over. Is the food helpful?
“Extremely,” Margo says. “It lasts throughout the whole month until I get paid again.”
Margo and Chris are friends who began volunteering together a little over a year ago. Chris and her husband are park hosts during the summer. For now, they live in a trailer on Margo’s property.
EVERYTHING IS JUST HARD
A young mom is there with her four children — an 11-year-old daughter, a 10-year-old son and six-year-old twin boys. She asks that we not use her name. She and her husband recently moved in with her mom to save money. They don’t receive food stamps, so the groceries they get from pantry really help.
“We’ll get fruits and veggies. I get most of our meat from the pantry,” she says. “It helps supplement a lot of the things that we would have to ration otherwise. There’s no way I can afford much on such a low budget.”
“I am grateful because, honestly, we’re at a place in our lives where everything is just hard,” she adds. “This is just a little bit of relief and a little bit of extra food.”
I DIDN’T KNOW THAT MEANT ME
June saw the sign for the pantry when she drove by a few years ago, but she didn’t know that she could use it.
“I never knew what it meant,” she says. “I didn’t know that meant me. I was just using food stamps. I didn’t realize I could also access a food pantry.”
“We appreciate the support,” she adds. “Especially families with children. We need it. Especially now.”
June appreciates the protein and the variety of food she gets at the pantry.
“It helps me to stretch my food budget,” she says. “It gives me some extra things that I normally wouldn’t buy. Sometimes there are some amazing cheeses. And butter! If we can get butter, it’s amazing.”
THE FOOD CARRIES ME THROUGH
John does small jobs for his neighbors to pay his rent. That day he gets oats, cereal, canned goods, apple sauce and peanut butter. He gets food stamps; They don’t last all month, but they help.
“This place really helps me, especially way out here. The food really carries me through,” he says.
Hugh is 61 and lives in a camper on a friend’s property. In addition to groceries, he gets a few clothes and blankets when they have them.
“The pantry has helped me out so much, he says. “I get what I need.”
MORE THAN FOOD
When Marty closes the doors at 5:30, almost all the food is gone. Only a few canned goods and some frozen foods remain.
The people who rely on this pantry for food are grateful for this pantry and the volunteers who operate it. They may not know the food comes from FFLC, but that’s not important. The connection to FFLC may not be obvious, but the gratitude is.
Your continued support ensures that the tables in this pantry will always have food on them when the doors open on the third Friday of the month.
“You guys are doing an awesome job for us,” Marty says about FFLC. “It feels just awesome helping people. The feeling you get from that, just knowing that you’re helping all these people out. l love it.”
“Without your donors, this wouldn’t happen,” Margo says. “And there would be a lot of people who need it who wouldn’t have it.”
