HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Deborah Stam is doing her part to respond to the coronavirus pandemic by keeping the needy among her Hanceville neighbors supplied with food and other items they might need during this time. Stocking the Hope Pantry behind the Hanceville Library is not a new thing for her; she has been doing it for quite some time.
Stam told The Tribune, “I used to see the Little Pantry in Cullman that’s right near Mary Carter. It was sitting out in the open, and I used to see it and wonder about it, and there’s no instructions on it. I stopped one day, and looked at it; I started putting in there when I was in town, especially going to eat at a buffet. I’d tell my husband, ‘Hey, I’m not coming here to this buffet with you unless you bring a bag of groceries,’ because I don’t feel right about doing that.
“We started doing that, and then they closed the buffet. But, in the meantime, I noticed just all of a sudden- I don’t know why it took me so long; I’ve been here now three years- we moved from Texas- and we live in Hanceville. I noticed this one in Hanceville on Bangor Street, behind the library or across from Love Your Eyes. I saw it, and my questions are, ‘Who started it,’ ‘Who can put in it?’ I started putting in it.”
Even before the anxiety of COVID-19 set in, the pantry has been a point of hope and help for a number of people in the Hanceville area.
Said Stam, “The need is great. I’ve seen people walk as much as 3 miles to come up there, because I took a woman home one day, and I know she lived over 3 miles. So the need is great.”
Around last Thanksgiving, Hanceville Warehouse Discount Groceries set out a basket to collect grocery items for Stam to stock the pantry. Cullman’s Publix store also periodically donates a basket of food, and Jimmy John’s has shared bread. United Way of Cullman County recently stepped in, as well.
Stam said, “Then, lo and behold, with this Coronavirus, just this week I got a call from United Way- Becky (Goff)- and she said, ‘Would $500 help your cause?’”
Stam swiftly and graciously accepted the offer, and began purchasing goods to stock the pantry. She has found, though that she has trouble keeping items on the shelves. She has begun making multiple trips each day to drop off items, and she is seeking help in doing so.
Said Stam, “I need volunteers to help me place it in at strategic times of day, probably eight times a day, because what I’m doing now is, I go there four times a day. And whatever I put in, most of the time, if someone comes up in a car, they’re going to take everything. When I was stocking it, my stuff wasn’t lasting.
“I got to know some of the patrons and I tried to talk to them. And so, a lot of them were very concerned; they didn’t have their (food) stamps and so forth. So, we’re not really trying to screen people, because it’s totally open; there’s no paperwork, there’s no red tape. It’s just the community trying to help each other. However, if you’ve walked three miles up there and it’s empty, that’s not helping you; see what I mean?
“What my situation is now is, I have one volunteer- a friend of mine that I stocked her car up with what we got from that last time, and I have stuff at my house- so between the two of us, we try to hit it, and my husband goes up there five and six times a day. But I could really use somebody that- it wouldn’t be a financial commitment on them; just some of their time- if they would place it in there; say somebody who would do it at 6 and 8 at night or something like that.”
Stam is also looking for donations of almost anything: food (especially easy open cans of pasta and the like, socks, toothbrushes, coloring books and small toys.
Anyone who is interested in helping out can email Stam at stdeborah@yahoo.com.
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