The Little Food Pantries scattered around Jackson County have been lacking donations, and shelves are bare.

Clinical dietitian Jill Whitaker, rural food access coordinator with the Healthy Jackson County coalition, gave a report about the pantries during Wednesday’s HJC coalition all-member meeting via Zoom.

“Some exciting news is some of the Medora High School students had an opportunity to help build a new Little Food Pantry there at the school,” Whitaker said. “Some funds from the Rural Food Access Grant were used to help support this, so we’re really excited to have that on the school grounds to hopefully meet the needs of some of the younger kids there that might be food insecure.”

She said the Little Food Pantries are a significant need they want to continue highlighting in the HJC workgroups and throughout the community.

“These little pantries do get utilized but are probably forgotten about a little more this time of year,” Whitaker said. “We’ve been in talks about how we can draw more attention to these and maybe have different organizations or volunteer groups ‘adopt’ these Little Food Pantries.”

Suggested donation items canned fruits, canned vegetables, canned meats, boxed food, toiletries and blankets.

Whitaker said the next Feeding the Community workgroup meeting is July 13 at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, and they’ll hopefully be talking about the pantries a little more.

She said the workgroup also is in conversation with the Seymour Area Farmers Market about ways to increase access to food there.

“There are a couple of days where Healthy Jackson County will be represented at the Seymour Area Farmers Market,” she said. “We’re still looking for opportunities to increase the food access there and in talks with them.”

Molly Marshall, health and human sciences educator for Purdue Extension Jackson County, is part of the HJC physical activity and nutrition workgroup.

She said there is an updated food assistance brochure with information about all of the food pantries in Jackson County, not just the Little Food Pantries. The brochure is kept on file and updated as needed.

“To get the most updated assistance information, there is a QR code on the brochure that is linked to the Schneck Medical Center website,” Marshall said. “It houses a lot of information that includes hoosierhelp.org, which is a great accumulative list of not only food assistance but transportation, medical, housing and a variety of help folks might need.”

The QR codes have been printed on a flyer and taken to the Little Food Pantries and sheds across the county.

“We got that done this week and last week and hung them up at all of the little pantries and did a driving tour,” Marshall said. “While we were on the tour, I took some photos of some of the local pantries, and they are bare, bare, bare.”

She said they are encouraging organizations, such as churches, volunteer groups, business or whoever has a passion and an interest in keeping the Little Food Pantries filled, to please help.

Marshall said Purdue Extension also is partnering with the Jackson County Fair from July 23 to 29.

“The fair has a very robust 4-H program, and along with 4-H, we want to promote community service, so we are participating once again this year in Stock the Trailer, which is now a statewide competition,” she said.

Marshall said the Jackson County 4-H Goat Club has signed up to participate and was last year’s winner, so there’s a little pressure for members to continue on with their work.

“There will be a livestock trailer located in front of the Farm Bureau building next to the 4-H building, and we are asking people attending the fair to bring canned goods and hygiene items to donate,” she said. “The trailer will be weighed and counted and then dispersed throughout our county to the local pantries.”

Marshall said the workgroup also is trying to promote a Canstruction event, which is for vendors at the fair.

“Booths can set up a Canstruction structure with canned items, which will all be donated at the end of the fair to Jackson County pantries,” she said. “The end goal for both Stock the Trailer and Canstruction is to collect cans and food for our pantries for the county.”

For information about the Healthy Jackson County coalition and workgroups, visit schneckmed.org/healthy-jackson-county.

Little Food Pantries are at the following locations in Jackson County

Brownstown — 100 block of West Walnut Street

Cortland — Hamilton Township Volunteer Fire Department, 6843 N. County Road 400E

Crothersville — Bethany Baptist Church, 9511 E. County Road 800S; Veterans Park, 102 Pennsylvania Ave.; Beauty from Ashes Tattoo Parlor, 201 N. Armstrong St.; Bard Street Park, 208 Moore St.

Freetown — North Union Street

Medora — Medora Community Schools, 82 S. George St.; White River Ag Sales, 2858 S. State Road 235

Seymour — Good Samaritan Food Pantry, 404 E. Second St.; Human Services Inc., 1115 E. Oak St.; Boys & Girls Club of Seymour, 950 N. O’Brien St.; Westside Park, 920 Jackson St.

Tampico — Tampico Baptist Church, 5626 S. State Road 39

Uniontown — 11769 E. State Road 250

Suggested donation items: Canned fruits, canned vegetables, canned meats, boxed food, toiletries and blankets