Chef Sherry Houze stands in the pantry at Mother’s Cupboard community kitchen and runs her hand over a set of shelves. This is where the cereal and dry goods usually sit.
On this day, they’re nearly empty, save for a box of saltines and some veggie chips.
On Oct. 14, Mother’s Cupboard posted a photo to its Facebook page showing a skeleton decoration hanging on the shelves.
“We can really say we’re down to the bare bones,” Houze said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]The post was shared more than 100 times. By Oct. 16, the pantry was beginning to fill back up with soups, rice dinners, canned vegetables and more macaroni and cheese.
But she said it would take about two days before it was cleared out again if no other donations were made.
“It doesn’t take very long for the food to go out as fast as it comes in,” she continued.
“You have to constantly stay in people’s faces. You have to constantly be reminding them, ‘We’re here, we need your help and we cannot operate without volunteers or donations.’ That’s how we thrive,” Houze said.
Houze runs the community kitchen on Memorial Drive where people can go to get a hot meal every day.
When fall hits, school gets back in session and families adjust to busier schedules, sometimes, organizations like Mother’s Cupboard are forgotten.
“I don’t think it’s because they don’t care. It’s just because they are so busy that it just slips your mind,” Houze said.
Local churches and Brown County Schools were working on putting together canned food drives this week for Mother’s Cupboard. The high school’s home football game on Oct. 18 was also going to be a collection site.
Needed pantry items include soups, Hamburger Helper and other skillet dinners, milk, eggs, cereal, macaroni and cheese, canned tuna and chicken, SpaghettiOs and canned ravioli, and canned vegetables like corn and green beans. The Brown County IGA donates bread each week.
Houze has been with Mother’s Cupboard since 2012. She said it is rare to see the pantry get this low.
“I am constantly amazed at the generosity of this community and how we’re supported by it. If somebody hears we need this or we need that, it’s not very long until somebody has taken care of it, or they will come in and say, ‘I’m going to Sam’s Club’ or whatever, or, ‘What are you in most need of? What can I pick up for you?’” Houze said.
When the pantry runs low on food, it doesn’t mean that hot meals won’t be served. “They are still able to get a hot meal even though there might not be any canned goods or whatever to take home. At least they still get to eat a hot meal,” she said.
Mother’s Cupboard serves an average of 130 hot meals a day.
If the pantry is full, clients are also allowed to pick items to take home depending on the size of their household.
A person can come in daily to partake in Mother’s Cupboard’s services Houze said. Some come in every day or every other day.
Mother’s Cupboard gets food from the Hoosier Hills Food Bank every week and from the Midwest Food Bank in Indianapolis twice a month. The rest of donations come from the community, including the schools who lead food drives throughout the school year.
“When they pull up in the school buses, it’s just so cute — all of those little kids jumping out, carrying stuff in with big grins on their faces. It’s really good for them as well,” Houze said.
Volunteers also needed
On Oct. 7, Mother’s Cupboard posted about having to almost close because of a lack of volunteers until community members volunteered “at the last minute” to save the day.
Any child or adult can volunteer at Mother’s Cupboard. Houze said she has had volunteers as young as 6 working to hand out meals and food from the pantry. Volunteers have to be 16 or older to work in the kitchen, though.
“The little kids really like the pantry work. They like handing the food out to the elderly people and some of them will help them take it out to the car. They just think that’s wonderful,” she said.
This means entire families can come in to help. “This summer we had two families who were having family reunions. As part of their activities, while all of their family was here, they donated a day here, and the whole family from all over the country came in and cooked and served and cleaned,” she said.
There no requirements to volunteer at Mother’s Cupboard in the kitchen, as a server, or to hand out food from the pantry other than being available to help.
“A lot of people are intimidated that they don’t want to cook, because they say they can’t cook for that large amount of people, but they can because I give training and supervision,” Houze said.
“I make sure they have recipes, directions, everything they need to prepare that meal. I go over all of the equipment with them if they’re not familiar with industrial-type equipment. I always start our new cooks out on something really simple, like soup and sandwich night, or chili dogs and chips — something anyone can do.”
To make the whole meal run smoothly, Houze needs five volunteers a day, including a couple in the kitchen making meals, servers and pantry volunteers. Pantry volunteers and servers are expected to arrive by 3:30 p.m., while cooks and meal prep volunteers arrive by 1 p.m.
A person can just volunteer for a day or make a longer-term, regular commitment. Houze tries to keep volunteer needs posted on Facebook.
Mother’s Cupboard being near downtown Nashville also gives students a chance to walk over to volunteer, which helps.
“We have students that have to have volunteer hours for honor society. It always looks good on applications for scholarships. We can always help out in those areas,” Houze said.
Anyone interested in volunteering should call Houze at Mother’s Cupboard to see what day works best and has the most openings.
Community involvement
Later in the day, a group of Brown County Junior High School students stopped by with their teacher and principal to get a tour of the community kitchen and learn more about their mission: Making sure no one goes hungry.
Last year, 43,000 hot meals were served through the kitchen. No proof of residency or income is required to get a meal. Houze said the kitchen even serves people from nearby counties, like Morgan and Bartholomew.
The students were working on rebranding Mother’s Cupboard to help get more people involved and to encourage them to donate as part of their STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) project. With STEAM projects, junior high students partner with industries and community groups to come up with solutions to real life problems. They’re also working with local businesses on marketing projects this year.
Houze suggested that maybe the students could look at refreshing Mother’s Cupboard’s logo.
She mentioned how donations started rolling in after the Facebook post about the empty pantry.
“Even bringing in three or four cans helps,” she said before taking the students on a tour.
“It all adds up.”
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Before visiting the Salt Creek Trail to get candy this Halloween, all are welcome to stop by Mother’s Cupboard community kitchen for a free ham-and-beans meal with cornbread.
While there, pick up a light up Halloween bucket or decorated bag for children to use collect their treats while trick or treating later. The dinner will happen outside of Mother’s Cupboard, located at 646 Memorial Drive in Nashville by the Brown County Fairgrounds. It go from 4 to 6 p.m.
“It’s just for anybody and everybody,” Chef Sherry Houze said, adding that the ham and bean dinner will be the kitchen’s hot meal for that evening.
Food donations will also be accepted during the dinner.
Food donations can be dropped off at Mother’s Cupboard on Memorial Drive (the fairgrounds) in Nashville between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Like Mother’s Cupboard on Facebook by searching for “Mother’s Cupboard Community Kitchen Inc.” Updates on volunteer opportunities and any food needs for the pantry will also be posted there.
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Brown County Schools is partnering with the Rotary Club of Brown County this week to fill the Village Green Pavilion with food donations to benefit Mother’s Cupboard, St. Vincent dePaul and the Salvation Army.
Canned goods and non-perishable food donations can be made at all of the schools until Friday, Oct. 25 at 9 a.m.
On Oct. 25, the donations will be moved from the schools to the pavilion in Nashville.
The school that collects the largest amount of donations compared to the amount of students in school will earn their faculty and staff the ability to wear jeans every day from Oct. 28 to Jan. 7.
Schools are also running building-specific promotions for the students.
The pavilion donations will be split equally among the three organizations.
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