MONROE - Green County residents who come to the Parish Mobile Food Pantry today will be left out in the cold.
For the first time in its 1.5 years, organizers canceled the pantry, held in the St. Vincent dePaul parking lot on the third Thursday afternoon of every month.
Organizer Rita Koster, of St. Victor, said cold weather prompted the cancellation.
Another organizer, Sue McGowan, who works at St. Vincent, said the cold temperatures, the possibility of snow and ice and snow in the lot were reasons for canceling this month's mobile pantry distribution, which helps up to 175 families a month.
"Many of our clients don't always have the clothing needs to meet the cold," McGowan said. "And the volunteers and people who do the pantry, for them to be out in that for two to three hours.
"We don't have any control over the weather."
McGowan and a third organizer, Kris Wisnefske, decided Tuesday to cancel the pantry. Koster was sick and gave her OK via telephone.
It's possible some of the families may show up for the pantry. Koster said people give a name or initials and their zip code when they come each month, but none of the organizers have phone numbers or addresses of those they help to notify them of the change.
McGowan said moving the pantry to an indoor location was not discussed.
"At this point, we really don't have an option because of separate liability policies," McGowan said. St. Vincent's liability policy covers the pantry when it is in the lot.
Even if the pantry were moved to another location, McGowan said letting everyone know would be difficult.
"To get the word out that we were holding it someplace else, mass confusion begins," McGowan said.
Koster was concerned some family may go without much-needed food for a month, but McGowan was not.
"Between the Food Share program the state offers and the Interchurch Food Pantry, our pantry's role is not to put food on people's tables, but to stretch their budgets."
McGowan said the food that would have been given out at the mobile pantry would not go to waste. She said it might head north to Madison for distribution at a food pantry there.
For the first time in its 1.5 years, organizers canceled the pantry, held in the St. Vincent dePaul parking lot on the third Thursday afternoon of every month.
Organizer Rita Koster, of St. Victor, said cold weather prompted the cancellation.
Another organizer, Sue McGowan, who works at St. Vincent, said the cold temperatures, the possibility of snow and ice and snow in the lot were reasons for canceling this month's mobile pantry distribution, which helps up to 175 families a month.
"Many of our clients don't always have the clothing needs to meet the cold," McGowan said. "And the volunteers and people who do the pantry, for them to be out in that for two to three hours.
"We don't have any control over the weather."
McGowan and a third organizer, Kris Wisnefske, decided Tuesday to cancel the pantry. Koster was sick and gave her OK via telephone.
It's possible some of the families may show up for the pantry. Koster said people give a name or initials and their zip code when they come each month, but none of the organizers have phone numbers or addresses of those they help to notify them of the change.
McGowan said moving the pantry to an indoor location was not discussed.
"At this point, we really don't have an option because of separate liability policies," McGowan said. St. Vincent's liability policy covers the pantry when it is in the lot.
Even if the pantry were moved to another location, McGowan said letting everyone know would be difficult.
"To get the word out that we were holding it someplace else, mass confusion begins," McGowan said.
Koster was concerned some family may go without much-needed food for a month, but McGowan was not.
"Between the Food Share program the state offers and the Interchurch Food Pantry, our pantry's role is not to put food on people's tables, but to stretch their budgets."
McGowan said the food that would have been given out at the mobile pantry would not go to waste. She said it might head north to Madison for distribution at a food pantry there.