By Tom Spalding, Communications Volunteer
In the 43-year history of Boulevard Place Food Pantry, a “Special Work” of the Indianapolis Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the staff, volunteers and board of directors have encountered plenty of challenges along the journey toward fulfilling our mission of providing emergency food relief to our hungry neighbors. We also have a history of finding solutions.
Granted, we wish our latest dilemma was as easy as replacing a failing freezer or working out the logistics to accommodate a bounty of freshly-obtained produce. A very happy problem to solve is pictured above—thanks to generosity St. Luke and their Lenten drive, we received 4,750 pounds of canned goods that filled two totes! Sorting, stacking and arranging for display promised to keep us busy.
Since Lent is a time for reflection, we have faith we can address this new issue: due to changes in federal requirements that surfaced in the first quarter of 2025, Boulevard Place Food Pantry is seeing more shoppers than we have in the past, with occasionally longer wait times, which is saying something.
We are seeing even more first-timers than in the past that has led to increased customer counts, and we are experiencing occasionally longer wait times due to new folks not being familiar with our processes and points system, or of whom speak a language different than English. We are seeing more people primarily during our in-person hours of Thursdays and Saturdays. Our dedicated team is often staying long after their shifts are concluded so everyone is serviced.
As always our goal is to volunteer, serve and support while providing an environment of dignity and compassion. We’re working to fully understand the total causes while we do our best each shift to be as speedy as possible.
Our full BPFP team is monitoring conditions in real time and looking at incorporating types of changes based on the reality of the situation, but we felt it was wise to share with our supporters what we’re seeing unfold.
