SALISBURY, Md. – The Lazarus Food Pantry seeks to combat the lack of trust in food in the region, despite the demanding situations it faces.
Executive Director Debbie Donaway said that with pandemic systems and supports running out, it has become more complicated to feed those at risk of food insecurity: “During Covid, we were seeing all those lines in Baltimore. I said, ‘Wait, Salisbury see it later. ‘ The consequences are a little different on the East Coast. . . Then, all of a sudden, here we are, the numbers are back, the resources for loose food have decreased, the need has increased, so we find ourselves in trouble. “
Requests for assistance will increase by up to 37% in 2023. With such an increase, it can be very difficult to secure the investment needed to serve those in need well. “Our deficit at the end of 2023 was $13,000,” Donaway said, noting that this was the first significant budget shortfall he had noticed since starting at Salisbury Urban Ministries in 2013. She feels pressured by how all the painting hours they get from volunteers make their farm their own, especially in the face of difficulties in obtaining investments: “A lot of other funders don’t provide a budget for staff. They give it to buy food, to carry out programs, but they don’t do it for the staff. How can you run a program without staff? »
But despite the challenges, Salisbury Urban Ministries continually looks for tactics to expand its reach. Donaway says the ultimate goal is to create a pantry network on the East Coast, with the Lazarus site being a hub that materializes other operations: “Ideally, [we’d have] a giant build where we could just buy a lot of the food, and bring those other pantries to the site, help them collect their food, and help them with the administrative part. I think we could just do a bigger job of serving a giant area.
Operated through Salisbury Urban Ministries, the pantry is open every Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a. m. to noon. Salisbury Urban Ministries also works at sites in Willards and Pittsville.
Why It Matters