The Pierce County Food Pantry now has a brand new concrete ramp.
Leading to a nondescript side door adjoining the Pierce County Senior Center, much needed supplemental nutrition will move up and down the new ramp. Last Wednesday, the pantry served 65 total households and the new ramp plus tents, fans, seating and bottles of water distributed to those waiting helped to smooth out the process of getting food to homes that are in need.
Food pantry Director Brenda Sutton said the concrete ramp didn’t come a moment too soon. After weeks of meetings, phone calls and waiting on quotes from contractors, the actual work to install the long awaited upgrade happened surprisingly quickly. The county commission installed the new ramp.
The new concrete ramp and doorstep was done by Stephenson Masonry, and the ironwork was completed by Lindsay Vail. Installation of the railings was completed over the weekend to ensure the pantry was up and running, not just for its regular distribution of food on Wednesdays and Fridays, but also to receive the donations of food items upon which it depends.
Looking forward to the future, Sutton hopes the pantry will one day have its own independent location complete with a drive through. With a drive through the vital service’s clients, many of whom are elderly or have small children with them, would no longer have to wait in the elements, sometimes wet with rain and often hot from the south Georgia sun.
“I have been pushing for a new location ever since the COVID money came through,” says Sutton. “Even when they were first writing the grant application.”
The option of a completely new location has not been far from the minds of county leaders. A location in the Pierce industrial park was recently considered, but a variety of factors complicated putting it into effect.
Fourth District Commissioner David Lowman, whom Sutton gives much of the credit for the new ramp, says it was a team effort, but the biggest hurdle is any parcel of land selected for a new community food pantry has to be “shovel ready” before the county’s grant application would even be considered by those controlling the state and federal purse strings.
Short of a new location, which according to county officials might take time to materialize, Sutton says the existing location could possibly be expanded and modified to suit the growing demands of the pantry. Unfortunately, even this potential solution has its complications. Given the traffic in and out generated by a drive through set up, the pantry would have to change its hours to avoid conflicting with the coming and going of senior center members.
“I appreciate what the county is doing,” says Sutton. “But you always wish people could do a little more.”
In the meantime, the new ramp is a big improvement. Previously, carts of food distributed to clients of the community pantry were wrestled by volunteers down an old wooden ramp in the opposite direction from the new concrete fixture.
Photo courtesy of Pierce County Food Pantry A new concrete ramp and metal railing was recently installed by contractors at the Pierce County Food Pantry. Work was completed over the weekend to ensure the location was ready for regular business the following week.
