Poverty in town a growing problem, volunteers say

By Jay Turner

Five years ago, when Mary Ellen Hudner first joined the Canton Food Pantry as its co-director, her job was, for the most part, fairly straightforward.

Her primary responsibilities, which she shared with fellow director Carolann Browne, included managing the food pantry’s inventory, processing new clients, and coordinating fundraising drives. If anything, Hudner’s biggest challenge occurred during regular visits to the Greater Boston Food Bank, where she had to somehow find a way to fit a month’s worth of groceries for dozens of people — which she loaded by hand — into the back of her family vehicle.

But something has changed over the past few years, and Hudner and Browne have found themselves dealing with increasingly complex cases — including numerous instances of poverty and even homelessness — all right here in Canton.

“Things are bad out there,” emphasized Hudner, who traced the problem back to the economic collapse of 2008. “There are a lot more really desperate situations now than I’ve ever seen before.”

According to Hudner, the food pantry currently serves more than 80 shoppers per week, and while some of those individuals are residents on fixed incomes who will always need the assistance, there is a growing number of individuals and families, including single mothers with young children, who appear to be sinking under the weight of their various financial and personal problems.

“We’re now dealing with homeless people — real homelessness — and other serious issues like that,” said Hudner. “These people have real problems, in some cases life-threatening problems.”

Debby Kreusch, who is president of the Canton Area Helpline, the non-profit organization that oversees the food pantry, said she has been surprised by the sheer number of residents who are struggling right now. And with such a dramatic rise in the number of needy families across Canton, Kreusch said donations to the helpline and food pantry have become even more important in recent months, even if both groups are limited in the amount of fundraising they can do.

“We’re only a little volunteer organization with a limited amount of money, and all of it comes from donations,” said Kreusch, who went out of her way to thank those who have donated recently, including Reebok ($10,000), the Canton Association of Business and Industry ($5,000), and OneBeacon Insurance ($3,000).

In addition, Kreusch said the helpline plans to participate in the 14^th annual Feinstein Challenge, beginning March 1. Each year, Alan Shawn Feinstein, a well-known Rhode Island philanthropist, divides $1 million among participating hunger-fighting agencies, and all they have to do to receive a portion of the money is simply mention the challenge in their direct mail materials.

The helpline also recently sent letters to local businesses in hopes of finding more volunteers to help transport food from the Greater Boston Food Bank. For more than three years the food pantry has relied on N J Marathas Carpeting and Allied Waste, and while both companies have been happy to help, Hudner is hoping that a few other businesses would be willing to pitch in.

Ideally, Hudner is looking for two or three additional volunteers willing to drive a box truck to the food bank and then back to Canton a couple of times a year. She said the entire trip takes around two hours, yet it saves her twice that much time and allows her to purchase as much food as she wants at rock-bottom prices.

Kreusch sent the letters out last week and by Friday she had already received her first reply. “I just thought that it was a good sign,” she said. “I mailed out the letters two days ago. The (unidentified) man called me first thing this morning and said, ‘We’d like to help.’”

Hudner said the importance of the food bank to the food pantry — and by extension, to Canton residents in need — cannot be overstated, particularly during their “lean” months such as July and August. Even during the holidays, when the food pantry is “inundated” with individual donations, the amount they collect is not nearly enough to meet the overall demand.

Still, Hudner cannot escape the feeling that there is more that can be done at the local level.

“We’re a small town, and I feel we have the responsibility to help the people here, I really do,” she said. “Some people are very generous and absolutely fabulous [helpers], but I think most people … are blind to it. And five years ago I never saw it either.”

Hudner said she knows residents, for instance, who were shocked to learn that homelessness had become an issue in Canton. “People just don’t believe or see it,” she said, “but it’s a reality and it’s bad out there.”

Fortunately, she said, there are various programs that have been established to help these individuals, although she recognizes that in most cases they are only a “band-aid.”

At the same time, Hudner said she has thoroughly loved and enjoyed working alongside Browne at the food pantry over the past five years, and she remains indebted to the many volunteers who help to “keep that place going” — people like “Mr. Smith,” the anonymous Canton resident in his 80s who shops for all the bread and pastries and hunts for bargains seven days a week.

Hudner said she would love it if more people did what Mr. Smith and the others did, although she understands that most people are simply too busy between their work and their family life.

Perhaps more importantly, she would like people to realize that what is happening right now to many Canton residents could happen to anyone.

“It’s out there and it’s Canton,” she said. “And I think people need to open their eyes and open their hearts and help one another out. They’re our neighbors.”

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