photo by: Contributed

Mac Boatwright, a volunteer for the Cruising Cupboard, is pictured next to Just Food's mobile pantry.

Just Food’s mobile pantry, which serves rural residents and others who can’t easily reach the main location, has been operating for six years and is now working to expand its reach in Eudora.

The program is called Cruising Cupboard, and Lawrence-based Just Food uses it to distribute food once a month to a couple locations in Lawrence as well as Baldwin City, Eudora and Lecompton. The program uses a “point system” that is similar to how community members shop for food at the main pantry. Each shopper gets 16 points with different foods counting for a different amount of points.

“We have a freezer on there that holds meat,” Aundrea Walker, executive director of Just Food, said. “We also have a mini fridge and then one whole side that is all dry goods shelving … We average about 10.9 pounds (of food) per person.”

So far this year, the bus distributed over 12,000 pounds of food to 930 households, serving 1,282 individuals. The mobile food pantry carries food for a maximum of 25 households to serve at a time. Depending on the location – and the population Just Food is planning to serve – the bus will carry everywhere from meat, fresh produce, boxed goods and hygiene products.

“The unhoused population – their biggest ask is things that they don’t have to have a can opener to open,” Walker said. “So pop tops and we distribute can openers too. We also do a lot more hygiene items.”

Walker also added that when serving the unhoused population, the bus will arrive with some kind of grab-and-go meal, like meat and sandwiches.

“We have Starbucks sandwiches that come in, and we distribute a lot of those too,” she said.

The locations serving the most people are the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. – already serving 364 households this year – and Lawrence Central Station, 2315 Bob Billings Parkway, which has served 235 households so far. The library is the only stop the bus makes twice a month, and it stops there on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. The mobile pantry stops at Central Station on the second Thursday of each month, from 3 to 5 p.m.

There are also two stops in Baldwin City that have reached a significant number of households. The first stop of the month is on the first Wednesday of the month from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Baldwin City Library, 800 Seventh St. The other stop is at Liston Stadium, 100 Fremont St. on the third Thursday of each month from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Each location has served 110 and 32 households so far this year, respectively. However, Just Food just recently started serving at Liston Stadium in September. Additionally, the mobile pantry has a stop in Lecompton United Methodist Church, 402 Elmore St., from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. The bus has served 121 households at this location so far.

However, Walker said that the mobile pantry is currently looking at opportunities to expand its outreach to residents in Eudora. Currently, the Cruising Cupboard makes a stop at Eudora Community Library, 14 E. Ninth St., but it has only served 59 households this year. The stop takes place on the fourth Thursday of the month from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

“Eudora is our lowest site, or least attended, so we did a little campaign, and we’re partnering with some more community partners there to try to get the word out because I don’t think (it’s that) there isn’t a need in Eudora, but people aren’t aware that we’re there,” Walker said.

Walker said Just Food had previously partnered with Feeding Eudora – a movement to provide a free summer lunch for the entire community.

“There’s not a feeding program during non-summer (months),” Walker said. ” … So we started to have flyers handed out at a local church.”

In addition, Just Food recently partnered with a class at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. Students were tasked with selecting one of the pantry’s programs to either promote or help improve by addressing a specific challenge. Walker said a few students wrote an article for publication in the Eudora Times to help raise awareness about the opportunity in Eudora.

Walker said she used to be in charge of the Cruising Cupboard back when it was first launched in 2019, and said it’s been nice to be able to create relationships with those shoppers and learn more about rural communities in the county.

“And just being able to create additional access points for people that are experiencing transportation barriers or might have limited time or aren’t on the east side of town,” Walker said.

Walker said she has definitely seen an increase in the number of people using Just Food services since disruptions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP — during the federal government shutdown that lasted from October through Nov. 12 and delayed full benefits for many recipients across the nation.

“There’s always been a line out the door on Tuesdays,” Walker said. “It’s the first day we’re open after the weekend. And now we’re seeing a line forming on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so it’s definitely increased the demand.”

Individuals interested in using the Cruising Cupboard can meet the bus at any of its scheduled stops. Each person may visit only one stop per week. To receive email alerts about upcoming Cruising Cupboard stops, sign up at justfoodks.org/cruisingcupboard.

Just Food also announced at the end of October the creation of a fund where if food pantries are “stretched to their limits,” it will ensure children, families and neighbors continue to have access to food. The fund is called the “Douglas County Partner Pantry Fund,” and every donor dollar is used by Just Food, which will purchase food and distribute it across all other local pantries.