| Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (MHC) is a food pantry whose mission is to provide healthful, wholesome foods to people in need, as well as nutrition and gardening education. We provide our services in ways that build community while enhancing the dignity, respect, and self-care of all involved. The MHC vision began in early 1998 with two young mothers-Jessica Mott and Laura Marks-who had been recipients of food programs in the past and wanted to serve people in need in a dignified way. MHC has grown rapidly from backyard beginnings to our current full service pantry at 1010 S. Walnut Street, Ste. G, provided by the Perry Township Trustee. In early 2006, our pantry facility was renovated and expanded, which allowed us to increase and improve our services to the community. Over the past nine years, we have distributed over 3 million pounds of rescued food to people in need and have provided over 325,000 client services. MHC currently serves an average of 1,420 clients each week. We have over 85 active volunteers who put in a total of at least 90 hours of volunteer time each week in the pantry, shopping at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, or working in one of the MHC community gardening projects. We have become the largest agency partner ofthe Hoosier Hills Food Bank, redistributing over 30% of the HHFB's rescued food annually.Our pantry is unique with its focus on wholesome, healthy foods. On a typical day, our patrons might bring home bags full of fresh produce, organic dairy products, soy milk, tofu, and locally baked breads. We also carry more traditional items, like canned goods, snack foods, and meats, to serve our diverse population of patrons. We hope that the availability of healthful, wholesome foods will encourage people to try new foods that will ultimately benefit their health. This, then, helps patrons continue to make positive nutritional choices that will help them move toward self-sufficiency. The pantry itself is a welcoming, dignified environment. Patrons enjoy free choice of food items, one visit per week without a cut-off period, one grocery bag per person in the household to fill, a simple sign-in process that requires no justification of need, and the chance to volunteer and help run the pantry they use. Over 80% of our volunteers are also patrons,indicating their desire to "give back" to an organization that has helped them. By offering our clients choice - in food items as well as level of participation in our other programs - we honor personal differences. | |