“A lot of people need food,” says Jeff Coates. “It’s not too complicated.”
Coates volunteered at the nonprofit Crooked Creek Food Pantry, at 6940 N. Michigan Road, for 4.5 years until being hired part time in 2024. But he doesn’t like to talk about himself. He focuses his thoughts instead on the clients of the pantry. “It’s not about me; it’s about the people in line.”
And according to the Executive Director Kathy Hahn Keiner, the line is growing.
Her calculations show from January through March in 2025 compared to the same months in 2024, 19% more people are coming through the pantry. “The trend, even though it’s a very short one, is already significantly higher,” says Kathy. She notes high egg prices, grocery bills, fuel, utilities and housing as some of the culprits.
On Feb. 15, 2015, the pantry opened, serving five families, she says. In 2024, the day before Thanksgiving, the pantry served 498 families on its largest day. Depending on the day of week and the hours open, the pantry normally serves 350-425 families. It is now a drive-thru distribution with volunteers filling shopping carts full of items for well-rounded meals including meat, milk, protein and fresh produce among other things.
Based on the hunger-relief organization Feeding America’s formula the 2024 economic value on the community of the local pantry was 7.6 million, and they distributed about 3.8 or 3.9 million pounds of food out of just the CCFP, Keiner says.
“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without volunteers,” she adds. And they can always use more.
Missi Young volunteers. Though she has done several jobs, she now keeps the line of cars moving, registering the clients before they receive their food. She enjoys the interaction and getting to know some of the families driving through. Sometimes she hears their stories, their challenges, their joys.
On one day in March, she got to meet the new baby in one of her regular families. The father was driving, and he was so excited to tell her the baby had been born.
But not all the people are as happy. Young remembers the women who have come through who were homeless or getting out of bad domestic situations. It’s very hard for them just to even come to the pantry, she says. “Those are the ones that touch my heart the most, because I realize how difficult it is.”
One client even asked Young how she, too, could volunteer at the pantry.
“People are hungry all year round, not just during the holidays,” says Keiner. The pantry collaborates with Gleaners, Midwest food bank, and various neighborhood retailers, increasing their stock. Donations of food are always appreciated and never turned away. But financial donations can do the most good. With the food pantry collaborations, they can stretch their money and pinpoint what they want to purchase. “We’ll pay anywhere from $3 to $9 for one of those grocery carts,” says Keiner illustrating the pantry’s cost advantage over retail where a shopper might pay $75 for a cart filled with similar items.
Volunteer Quin Lee stresses that you have to put judgement on hold. He illustrates that no one knows the others’ stories when he remembers once seeing a client in a really nice Mercedes. “I lost my job,” said the woman. “Car’s paid for. Why am I going to get rid of a really good car, get a cheaper one that is going to need more repairs?” she explained.
Language is sometimes a real challenge at the pantry. Coates says clients are from all over the world and some don’t speak English. Even though some staffers speak Spanish, many volunteers learn other ways to communicate and adapt. Coates uses a smart phone app to translate.
One client especially reminds Coates of the reason he loves working at Crooked Creek Food Pantry. A “walker,” or a client not in a vehicle, walked up one day. She couldn’t speak English. But she and Coates communicated anyway. He helped her fill her backpack and gave her a couple bags to transport her food. She motioned to him to put a big box on her head before she headed home, walking on Michigan.
Coates saw her several more times, and she looked for him to help her. Each time he would help put the box on her head to complete her tow. But one time Coates witnessed a person in line getting their own food, heading out, stopping to pick her up, giving her a ride. He gets tearful remembering the kindness of the community. “That’s why we’re here,” he says noting everyone helping each other.
Keiner remembers the testimony of one client who spoke at the recent ten-year celebration for the pantry. The woman had many financial and health challenges. She was down to $2 in her food budget one day. If it wasn’t for the pantry, she wouldn’t eat, and her family wouldn’t eat.
Every little bit helps, says Keiner. The pantry can be a constant resource. “If they can save their budget for other items because they’re getting some of their groceries here, we’re all for it. Maybe they can pay for their medicine, or maybe they can pay their utility bill. I mean that’s really important.”
The pantry, which serves the Pike Township community and part of Washington Township to Meridian St., is open regularly on Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:00am to 12:30, and 1:00pm to 3:30,as well as Thursdays from 1:00 pm to 5:00pm. Occasionally they also have extra days. And like the U.S. Postal Service, they operate in any weather — rain wind or snow.
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