Hard times hurt everybody, it seems — even the folks trying to help.
The Muncie Mission is struggling to fill its shelves again after a drought of contributions nearly depleted the group's shelves in downtown Muncie this summer.
"People responded in a great way," Ray Raines, executive director, said. "The shelves are back up to some degree."
They're back, in other words, but not completely. A public appeal this month through local news outlets brought in new donations, boosting the supply of food about 40 percent. But demand has also risen because of the city's economy. The Muncie unemployment rate stands at 9.3 percent, compared with a statewide average of 8.9 percent.
"As soon as it was coming in, it was going out," Paula Raines, another mission administrator, said. "With the number coming for food, it's going to be hard to keep up."
Paula Raines said supplies are better now than before — at least there's some meat and other protein for families. But she doesn't know how long before the shelves will be near empty again.
The kitchen churns out 240 meals a day for the 64 men at the mission and others who show up for hot lunches.
The food shortage developed slowly during the summer because donations dropped off from last year, mission staffer Dennis Powell said.
"We were really blessed [last year]," Powell said. "But ... This stuff is being consumed on a regular basis. When you put it all together, what we do for the guys and what we do for the guests, that's tens of thousands of meals a year."
The mission is funded through contributions, which Ray Raines said are down because of "ongoing economic struggles." He said in the mission's 81-year history, this is the lowest their food stores have been. He said the group collected 30 to 40 percent less than usual from one of its main food drives this spring.
"The post office food drive this past May was not as large as it usually was," Ray Raines said. "It not only affected us. It's other places too that didn't get as much ... So that's why we ended up behind."
Usually what the mission takes in from the spring food drive, along with other regular donations from local restaurants and businesses, is enough to sustain the mission until Southside High School's food drive in the winter.
"Unfortunately, this year we just ran out," Ray Raines said.
Ray Raines said he welcomes monetary and food donations. The mission needs peanut butter, canned meat, macaroni and cheese, instant oatmeal and any kind of soup that includes meat. They also need volunteers to help with hands-on work, such as sorting the donations that come in.
Dennis Fowler said he's glad for a bunk while he gets his life back in order.
A professional painter, Fowler hit a series of rough patches and ended up in a homeless camp in Indianapolis. Wanting to change his situation, he jumped at the opportunity when a local church offered to send him to Muncie Mission.
The mission gives homeless men food and a place to live while offering counseling, spiritual help, educational programs and job skills training. The facilities are clean and modern — "beautiful," as Fowler said — and much better than the shelters he has been to in Indianapolis, he said.
"If a man goes through this program for a year, he may get his family back," he said. "He may leave here with a job, with an apartment and with an automobile. He may get his life back and go to heaven."
Editor's note: (or a box. Just not tacked at the end of the story -Sarah)
A list of food items needed and not needed can be found at munciemission.org, as well as information on volunteer opportunities.
By the numbers:
240 meals served each day
64 men live at the mission
20 to 80 "noon guests" each day
81 years - years the shelter has been open
40 percent - increase in the food supply in the last two weeks
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