Milton food pantry prepares for future

This fall will bring a time of change for Milton Community Food Pantry as the organization transitions out of its longtime home at Goshen Hall to new, temporary quarters at Water’s Edge church and finally to its own facility.

Donna Murawski, pantry president, said after Goshen Church put its Federal Street fellowship hall up for sale, Water’s Edge reached out to allow the organization to use its building at 13275 Reynolds Road for storage and distribution. She said the facility also has a large parking lot, which will be very helpful to conform with COVID-19 guidelines. 

For most of the last year and a half, the pantry has been doing drive-thru food distributions at the municipal parking lot on Magnolia Street. 

Murawski said those events at Goshen Hall finished Sunday, Sept. 19. The first distribution at Water’s Edge will be Monday, Oct. 4, and future events will take place on the first and third Monday of every month. 

Throughout the pandemic, the pantry has continued operating as an independent nonprofit with regular distributions, which leadership views as a major accomplishment.

Ken Sosne, MCFP development volunteer, said, “A lot of the pantries out there, they give, but it's not regular. Knowing that we are on every first and third Monday, plus we do some additionals, that’s a testament to our clients and to the pantry for operating. People are going to get fed.”

Tom DiOrio, special projects coordinator, said the pantry does not just serve the Milton ZIP code; it has clients from all around Sussex County and even into Kent County. 

Prior to the pandemic, Murawski said the pantry relied on what she called food rescue donations from Food Lion, and purchases from low-price stores like Save-A-Lot and Dollar General.

“Once COVID hit, we couldn’t get food anymore,” she said. “Food Lion didn’t have anything for us. All the stores and shelves were empty. We partnered with the Food Bank of Delaware on an emergency basis. And because of COVID, we have less volunteers.”

Murawski said Food Lion has begun donating again as its supplies have shored up. 

While the parking lot distributions have kept the pantry going, DiOrio said they are not ideal logistically, as the pantry has to haul boxes from Goshen Hall to the parking lot using volunteers to do the trucking.

“They had to load up 2,000 pounds or more of food on distribution day and truck it down to the lot, distribute it and bring it back,” he said. “We’ve continued to operate, but under more difficult conditions than we had been.”

All involved thanked Goshen Church for letting the pantry use the fellowship hall for the last seven years. 

“They’ve been incredibly kind to us,” Sosne said. 

But as one door closes, another opens. While Water’s Edge will be a temporary home, the pantry is getting closer to opening its own facility, a project that has been nearly two years in the making. DiOrio said finding the right spot was a challenge, given how hypercharged the real estate market is right now. 

“Every place that we looked, by the time we looked at it, it was gone. And the prices have escalated in the last eight or 10 months. We don’t have benefactors with unlimited funds,” he said. 

Murawski said the pantry now has an agreement for a new facility outside Milton town limits, but a conditional-use approval from Sussex County will be needed before it can open, a process that would take anywhere from six to 12 months. She said the new building is nice because there is space for expansion and for parking, so if the pantry needs to continue its drive-thru model, it can.

Pantry officials did not wish to disclose the location of the new building for two reasons – they did not want to cause confusion for those seeking food from the pantry, and the sale has not officially closed. Murawski said she expects to close on the building purchase by Tuesday, Oct. 26. 

“It was important to stay near Milton. We have people who walk. We have people who bike. We couldn’t get anything in town. As close to town as we could get, that was favorable,” she said. 

For more information on food distributions or donations, visit miltonpantry.org. Anyone wishing to donate money should do so by mail at P.O. Box 84, Milton, DE 19968.