INTERVIEW: Marinette food pantry sees higher demand, fewer resources

MARINETTE, Wis. (WBAY) - St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry in Marinette reported earlier this month it was already visited 5,000 times this year compared to 3,600 visits during all of 2021.

Now the pantry is heading into the busiest months of the year. It’s on pace to accommodate more than 6,000 visits this year, driven in part by another pantry’s unexpected closure earlier this year.

Ashley Berken, executive director of the St. Vincent De Paul Society of Marinette, talked with Action 2 News anchor Jeff Alexander about the impact of that pantry closing and how her food pantry is budgeting for this unexpected surge.

We also asked about the rising cost of food (and everything) and how that’s playing a role in demand for their services and how it’s affecting the pantry’s own efforts to obtain food. Berken tells us how others in the community can help, and she talks about the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry’s plans for holiday meals.

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