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ACCESS mobile pantry gains more wheels By Tony Boom Dec 12, 2022 12:45 AM A A Marcee Champion and Chris Bosse stock a refrigerator of the ACCESS mobile unit at the White City library last spring. Talent helped ACCESS get a grant to add two more vans and other equipment to the mobile pantry operation. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune/file photo] ACCESS’s mobile pantry van operation, which brings food to thousands in need in Jackson County, will triple its fleet with the addition of two new vans obtained with assistance from the city of Talent through a federal grant. Currently 10 of the more than 30 ACCESS pantry sites are served by a single mobile van. Low-income residents receive boxes containing meal supplies for three to five days during van visits. “This is about capacity-building. We have seen an increase in the number of people going to pantries. Some sites have seen visits increase by 60% to 80%,” said Marcee Champion, food program director for ACCESS. Between 5,000 and 6,000 people on average are served weekly by all the organization’s food pantries. Grant requirements called for organizations to apply through a local government to secure funds, said Champion. ACCESS partnered with Talent to secure a $250,000 grant that will bring two vans and other equipment and services needed for the operation. “With the COVID pandemic, the federal government made a lot of funding available through the Community Development Block Grant program. One of those pots of money was specified for food access,” said Jordan Rooklyn, Talent city manager. “COVID-19 has put people at high food risk.” “We applied in partnership with ACCESS for them to use those funds,” said Rooklyn. The application was made in May, and the award was announced in September. The current mobile pantry van serves Talent at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production facility on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. In addition, Talent residents are served each Thursday at Talent Town Hall. Other towns with mobile pantry visits include White City, Prospect, Phoenix, Butte Falls, Wimer, Central Point, Eagle Point and two locations in Medford. The agency has just obtained a 19-foot-long, diesel-powered Sprinter van, tall enough to allow people to stand up and move around inside. It will be equipped with solar panels to power the freezer and refrigerator in the vehicle, also paid for with grant funds. “It’s more flexible, and it can fit into spaces better. Sometimes a parking lot may not be big enough (for the current van). It tucks into places a little more easily,” said Champion. “It’s just an empty van right now. We will have to retrofit it. It will be about four months.” ACCESS will contract for the retrofit work. A food truck style may be used, with an ordering window on one side and customers able to pick up their boxes at the back, said Champion. “The big truck will still be out there. The smaller unit could be used by volunteers,” said Champion. ACCESS Food Bank Manager Chris Bosse and Champion visited dealerships Wednesday looking for a second van. This one will be used for moving supplies around and will also have stand-up capacity, but it won’t be fitted to serve as a food pantry. It should be secured by June. Currently volunteers go out to pick up bread at stores in their own cars. The van could be used for that duty, as well as moving smaller orders out to the pantries from the ACCESS warehouse on Aviation Way in Medford. “These vans are taller, so they can take a full pallet,” said Champion. Besides the vans, the grant is paying for refrigerators and freezers at bricks-and-mortar locations, including a new site in Central Point, as well as a new battery for a forklift and a new inventory control management system. A shrink-wrapping machine that can enclose pallets so supplies don’t move during transit also will be purchased. “ACCESS has been providing a pantry in Talent for many years. We are really grateful for that, and we also recognize what has come after the Almeda Fire,” said Rooklyn. The conflagration put many more people at risk, and ACCESS was able to support them, providing essential services, she said. City councilors unanimously approve applying for the grant. “One thing they really loved about the project is the creation of another mobile food pantry,” said Rooklyn. Many people lost vehicles in the fire, and the mobile pantry has provided a better way to reach them, so they don’t have to travel so far. “We need volunteers, and we need food and funding support. The number of food drives went down this year. Donations have gone down for the agency as a whole. Everyone is squeezed right now,” said Champion. Information on the food pantries can be found at accesshelps.org. Reach Ashland freelance writer Tony Boom at [email protected].