REXBURG — There are many in the community currently facing challenges impacting the amount of food they can provide for themselves or their families. The Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry, in connection with Idaho Food Bank, has worked for 10 years to alleviate some of these economic challenges for community members.
“We do live in a bit of a pocket of poverty in Madison County,” the Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry operator Jessica Goudy, says.
That was Jessica Goudy. She’s the manager of the Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry. She and many others volunteer on the third Tuesday of each month to distribute 25,000 to 50,000 pounds of food to those in need.
“As gas prices, and the prices of groceries have just continued to inflate we have seen a huge surge of people coming out and picking up this food. We call it the working poor. They are working, it’s not like they’re sitting at home. They’re working, they’re coming straight from their job, they're picking this food up,” Goudy says.
In the last 10 years the operation has gone through five locations. Their current location is a warehouse donated by Wilcox Fresh located in Thornton. Goudy says since they’ve been at that location the operation has moved outside. Volunteers funnel cars through a drive-thru system and load up their trunks with food based on family size. Of all the food pantry’s throughout the state, Madison County’s is the most robust.
“We see surges, especially in our area. A lot of them are dependent upon the local university when students are in town. I would say pretty close to half of the population that we serve are college-age students, young families,” Goudy says. “In a matter of four hours that 50 thousand pounds of food is decreased to a stack of pallets."
Goudy says over the years the need has steadily grown, and recently it’s grown drastically. They initially served some 400 families. Now they pass it out food to anywhere from 550 to 750 families each month.
“We are definitely in need of more donations and more help for the Idaho Food Bank ... The need is there, the need is real and there’s no shame in receiving help. This is not … something that you have to qualify for. We recognize there’s a lot of gray area when it comes to receiving help and there’s a lot of people who fall in that gray area,” Jessica Goudy says.
Goudy says the Idaho Food Bank gathers both food and monetary donations at their distribution center in Pocatello. Find updates about the Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry on its Facebook group, or volunteer every third Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 4915 South Yellowstone Highway in Thornton.
"We allow people to pick up for other people, so if you have neighbors who are inbound or neighbors who are sick… think of the people in your life,” Goudy says.