The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, after years of service, is no longer bringing its mobile food pantry to Paquin Tower and Oak Tower in Columbia.
The Food Bank dropped food off once a month to residents and surrounding community members, which increased food access to individuals living in low-income housing.
Mobile pantries are used by the Food Bank to provide food access when brick-and-mortar pantries are not an option. The service ended in June after the Food Bank opened its new market on Buisness Loop because it says Oak and Paquin Towers are now within a mile of its pantry.
Residents at the Paquin and Oak Towers say the truck was a great asset, and were surprised by the suspension of service.
"They didn't give us a warning or anything," Paquin Towers resident Michael Moran said, "which kind of really hurts us because we have no way of transporting a lot of people here."
The Food Bank says its team has done outreach at Oak and Paquin Towers to help residents plan for the changes, as well as provided materials to support Columbia Housing Authority in communicating the opportunity to residents.
The Food Bank encourages individuals to use its brick-and-mortar locations, as it offers people more choice, consistency access and greater selections in food.
For those who are unable to travel to the physical location, the Food Bank offers shopping by proxy and a DoorDash delivery service that can get a monthly delivery of food to a resident.
Columbia Housing Authority CEO Randy Cole says the authority continues to work alongside the Food Bank towards finding solutions that bridge the gap between need and accessibility for residents.
"Our residents have expressed a little bit less access to food right now, so we're looking at some other short term measures that we can do to get additional food on site for our residents and make sure their needs are met," Cole said.
The authority is also exploring long-term solutions to help address food insecurity that its residents face.
"We're looking at creating a larger space (at Paquin Towers) for a food pantry to operate," Cole said, "We'd actually have food onsite, so people wouldn't have to leave the building weekly, rather than once a month," Cole said.
