Across the country, food banks have been reporting vast increases in demand for their support since the pandemic began as businesses close and new families lose jobs daily. But at least one Crescent City food bank is bucking that trend.“It’s kind of counterintuitive of what we thought would happen,” said Amanda Hixson, who oversees the Pacific Pantry at the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods and directs the Del Notre and Tribal Lands Community Food Council. “We don’t quite understand why our numbers are down.”Those numbers are the pantry’s usership statistics. In 2019, the pantry handed out self-selected bags of non-perishables just over 6,000 times.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');As news of the pandemic and related economic tailspin approached, Hixson and other pantry leaders braced for an increase in the need for its services. But that didn’t happen: In 2020, the pantry gave out food around 3,800 times, just over half of what it had the year before the pandemic.The shift has left pantry leaders scratching their heads. One optimistic theory to explain the decrease is that new benefit programs — like federal stimulus checks, expanded unemployment and increased CalFresh benefits — have filled the gap for people who typically use the pantry.“Hopefully everyone’s just got what they need,” said Charlie Perry, Pacific Pantry’s pantry manager. “At the same time, it’s a little perplexing.”If that theory is true, the pantry’s data suggests that not everyone’s needs are being met by the expanded government assistance.“This pandemic has made things difficult for the middle class, for the working class,” Hixson said, noting that families at income levels higher than what’s eligible for benefits but lower than what makes ends meet have been struggling.She recalls getting a phone call from the mother of a Crescent City resident. Her son was employed but still struggling to make ends meet, so she wanted to inquire about his eligibility to use the pantry if he had to for the first time.If he did, he wouldn’t be alone: In 2020, the pantry reported fewer unique households were using the pantry (in line with fewer total visits), but more of them were first-time users. 445 households used the pantry for the first time last year, according to Hixson.“We have seen a lot of new people coming — a lot of new households coming,” Hixson said. “There’s definitely new people coming that never had to use the pantry before.”According to Food Bank Director Myrtle Thompson, Rural Human Services has noticed a similar trend of seeing new faces when it distributes food.“We see more people that are traveling through,” Thompson said.With more people laid off, Thompson said she’s seen an increase in people sleeping in their cars who need RHS’s food support.But that hasn’t meant a strain on the bank’s supply of food, which Thompson also delivers each month to Klamath and Smith River. In fact, she was able to add extra days of food distribution this month.“There’s been more people giving to the food bank,” Thompson said.Some social service organizations across the country have expressed fears about what happens after the pandemic, when extra emergency benefits run out. But Thompson’s not worried about having to deal with an increase in need.“If you ask for stuff, they’ll come,” Thompson said of food bank donors.Perry isn’t worried about a rush, either.“I’m not going to say it’s not stressful, but I don’t worry about it,” Perry said.Before the first food distribution day of each week, Perry and his volunteers brace for an influx of need as federal and state programs expire, renew and change. But the rush has yet to come.Except for at the beginning of the pandemic, when store shelves across the country emptied and families worried about how they might put food on their table in the uncertain months ahead.“I think that was fueled probably by a lot of fear,” Hixson said.Since then, Hixson and her team have been able to expand some of the services Pacific Pantry can offer. The pantry “rescues” pre-made food near expiration from restaurants and grocery stores and makes it available alongside the usual food pantry items.“It lights up everyone’s face,” Perry said of being able to give out prepared meals, sometimes from more high-end restaurants and stores.The pantry’s also been able to purchase a refrigerator van, which provides more storage space than the FRC building’s janitorial closet-turned-pantry can offer and can be used to make food rescues from farther away places. Perry said it’s been a “gamechanger” for the pantry.But on top of all that, the pandemic’s brought new kinds of support, Hixson said. New government grants have become available, and more donors have stepped up to the plate.“There’s been challenges, but there’s also been victories, in a way,” Hixson said.A coalition of food bank and social service leaders have come to the table to establish the Del Norte Food Security Task Force, Hixson said. The group’s goal is to coordinate food security efforts in the county and establish a mobile pantry.Hixson is hoping that a survey of Pacific Pantry’s former users will help explain the pandemic’s decrease in usership.If it’s because people feel unsafe leaving their homes to get food, Perry said they shouldn’t be worried.“It’s safe to come in and shop here,” Perry said.The pantry no longer allows users to enter the building, and staff shop for clients instead. Masks are required, and blue X-marks point to where clients should wait outside if a group does begin to form.Pacific Pantry, the RHS food bank and the Del Norte Food Security Task Force are all looking for dedicated volunteers to support their missions.Pacific Pantry is open at 494 Pacific Ave. from 2 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. More information is available from Hixson at 707-464-0955.The RHS food distribution takes place during the third full week of each month. Emergency food boxes are available Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. More information is available from Thompson at 707-464-7441, ext. 232. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });