By Marcia Moore
SUNBURY — The move to pay state workers is overdue, charity officials said, because desperate government workers have been flocking to food banks, emptying shelves and competing with other needy residents for the limited supplies.
Haven Ministry director Cathy Teisher thought there would be time to stock the food pantry before state employees would come calling after working without pay.
Instead, she saw a dramatic increase in need as soon as the state budget dispute began reducing paychecks more than two weeks ago.
“We thought it would be a week or so before we’d see (a need), but people came in immediately, as soon as the pay was reduced. Now we’re tapped out,” Teisher said, referring to the nearly bare food pantry at the 1043 S. Front St. shelter.
Normally, Teisher provides food baskets to 100 to 150 families a month.
In the past two weeks, Haven has given food to at least 50 more people, all state employees, who have seen their paychecks reduced or cut completely as a result of the budget impasse.
Salvation Army Maj. Sharon Cupp, of Sunbury, and Mike Benjamin, executive director at the American Red Cross in Danville, also saw an immediate and marked spike in the number of people in need of food.
Benjamin’s agency typically receives about five requests for referrals to local food pantries each month, and recently, nearly 30 state employees have called for help.
“Some are really desperate,” he said.
Cupp said visits to the Salvation Army food pantry climbed about 10 percent from the typical 60 individuals a month, and she’s seen plenty of frustration.
“For many of these people, it’s the first time they’ve had to ask for help,” she said.
Teisher said she’s never seen supplies at Haven Ministry drop so low and attributes it directly to the need generated by the state’s withholding pay from its employees.
“These are entry-level state workers who live paycheck to paycheck, and now they’re without a paycheck,” she said, adding that she’s horrified by the number who don’t have savings to tide them over. “They need gas to get to work and can’t afford to buy food.”
One female state employee walked into the shelter Monday morning saying she had only four slices of bread to eat, so Teisher rummaged through her nearly empty refrigerator for some frozen pizza and a package of hot dogs.
“They’re embarrassed, but every single person we’ve served has been nothing but grateful,” she said. “They’ve been blind-sided. They’re not used to this.”
Cupp is hopeful that the state employees who experienced a temporary squeeze will remember the agencies that were there for them.
Donations of canned food and other items, as well as money, are accepted at Haven Ministry, Salvation Army, the Red Cross and other nonprofit organizations that operate or assist food pantries.
