Over the Fence Interview with Noel Laing, President and Board Chair of the Rappahannock Food Pantry

Interviewed by Casey Eitner

Tell us a little about the Food Pantry? How did it start? Where is it heading?

It was started about 12 years ago – the initial impetus came from Hal Hunter, who is behind just about every initiative to help the poor and disadvantaged in the county.  I started to help out and was asked by Mimi Forbes, who has been the manager since the start, to get on the board about 18 months later, driven by a desire to give back in an area where there was a huge need. My family has had its roots here since the 1920’s so it was natural for me to help the community.  The operation started in the Town of Washington in a space that immediately became too small for what we were doing.  As soon as we moved to our current location in Sperryville, we knew it would not be ideal – because it was also too small and because it was on the edge of the community we were serving. Most of our recipients of what we provide, what we call our shoppers, are from Amissville and areas closer to Little Washington.

What’s next to address that?

We looked closely at land off 211 closer to Washington that Jimmy Berg offered to sell us, but ran into cost estimates that were too prohibitive to build there from scratch. However, thanks to an offer from Chuck Acre for us to move into the Rush River Commons project across from the new Post Office, we are now very close to working out the details to move to what promised to be a very suitable location. So the future looks bright for us.

While we are on the subject of Rush River, what is your thought about the fuss about the boundary adjustment and the stumbling block about “affordable housing”?

The need for affordable housing in this county is quite germane.  When I talk to affluent people in this county some seem to have a blind eye to the poverty. They are just not aware of the people that need our services as they struggle just to make ends meet and feed themselves and their families. Our county is in the top 10% nationally of counties with high income inequality, so some of the recipients of our services may not be obvious to how the county looks overall.  And it’s not just the very poor, lots of folks who are from here and work here cannot afford to live here. 

How many folks use your services?

We have consistently in recent years served over 200 families through the course of the year representing about 700 people. That’s 10% of the population. When I say “through the course of the year” I mean that some of our recipients stop coming to us when they find a job and can afford to buy their own food, but then they may hit hard times and need us again. So it averages to over 700 people each year that need us.  Also, we had started a backpack program to provide food on Fridays for the weekend to children in the elementary school and the Child Care Learning Program from pre-K to third grade, and subsequently expanded it to seventh grade.  Before the pandemic we were doing that for some 160-170 kids a week.

How did things change with the pandemic?

We adjusted to provide ready-packaged food sets that our shoppers could pick up without going in to the facility. When the pandemic hit, we saw our numbers go up. But the numbers then went down – we believe because people got stimulus money so that they could buy the food they needed themselves. Our backpacks for children also dipped down to about 60-70 per week as we had to switch to alternative ways to provide the backpacks through home deliveries and the school office. Now that the stimulus money has dried up, we expect to see the numbers increase again later this year. Our numbers tend to be smaller generally during this summer period when people can grow some of their own food,

What should happen so that there is not as a big a need for the Food Pantry?

The economy needs to keep picking up.  Wages need to be better – more sustainable to live on. Transportation is a real issue for folks who could otherwise get to jobs.

Where do your donations come from?

We have a wide mix of donors, including some who can donate several thousand dollars to others who donate $50 or $100.  Also, our donation boxes which sit on the counters at several local businesses, that you helped us conceive and implement, have raised over $8,000 and counting in small bills and change from locals and visitors to the county.

Did you see a drop off in donations when the standard deduction got changed in our tax laws making it less likely that donors could benefit from itemized charitable donations?

Not at all. Our donations have continued to grow consistently in the past couple of years.  I think our donors are motivated much more by our cause than by a tax deduction.

I know this is a bit of a provocative question, but why does an organization to rescue and support cats routinely show up ahead of the Food Pantry and other organizations serving the needs of humans in the community in listings of top recipient organizations in, for example, the Give Local Piedmont drives.

There are people who love their cats.  But keep in mind that we have various other ways to raise money for our organization other than that particular drive – so we get a lot of support in those ways.

Lastly, any new programs being considered? Any parting thoughts?

We are seriously considering adding baby care and personal care products to our offerings to help folks take care of themselves. Lastly and above all, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all our volunteers and donors without whom we would be put out of the business we are in of helping people who are struggling to make ends meet.

Noel, it is we who thank you and the whole Food Pantry team for your service to the community.