The first step is the hardest. Swallowing her pride, Marie Avera started asking around about how to get help when she couldn’t make ends meet. She didn’t want to have to choose between groceries and paying the mortgage, but some months, there was just no way she could do it.

After her husband died at only 56 years old in March of 2011, most of the family’s income disappeared, and she was stuck with a house payment, all of the other bills and three other mouths to feed — her 9-year-old great-grandson, 2-year-old grandson and 27-year-old mentally handicapped son.

Avera spent her life working as a bus driver and in the school cafeteria. After she retired, her husband continued working until he was too sick. She was left with so much responsibility, and at 64 years old, there were days when everything she faced made her weary.

She kept hearing about Prodisee Pantry, a food pantry in Spanish Fort that gives out more than just canned foods — people got eggs, fresh vegetables, potatoes and even turkeys during the holidays there. She decided to go.

“I used to be the one who tried to help other people, and when you need it, you see how they felt,” Avera said. “Thank God these people here don’t make you feel any lesser. We’re not a lesser person — just a broker one.”

Hungry in Baldwin County

Unfortunately, Avera is not alone, and she is better off than many people in Baldwin County.

“I think that the need has escalated,” said Deann Servos, Prodisee Pantry’s executive director. “It’s very hard for a community that is thought of as a tourism-based community with a lot of service-based jobs.”

The epidemic began in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan hit Baldwin County, and full recovery has been stamped out with event after event since then — Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the economic recession in 2009 and then the oil spill in 2010, Servos said.

“For any family that was on the brink or a middle class family that needed two jobs to support their lifestyle — a lot of families have lost a job in that time period from 2005 to 2012,” she said. “There haven’t been the replacement jobs. They’re doing their very best, but if they did have rainy day funds, they no longer have them.”

The area might be on its way to recovery, but about 125 new families show up to Prodisee Pantry each month, and that is a sign that times are still tough for many families, Servos said.

“When you get to the point of needing groceries, sometimes it’s a five-year recovery process,” she said. “This area really has a long way to go to get back.”

Avera said she was surprised at how many other people need help, and she has been humbled by the stories of others she has met. 

“These programs mean life for some people,” she said. “They really do. It means you don’t have to worry about how am I going to feed (my family) through this month.”

Servos said hunger is not obvious in Baldwin County. At Prodisee, they say hunger is invisible. The pantry has served more than 52,000 families made up of 135,000 individuals since it opened in 2003, and in 2012 alone, 9,500 families have visited the pantry. Some of those are repeat visitors, Servos said.

“By the time someone gets to the point in their life where they need something to eat, it’s a baby step process forward,” she said. “Hunger is not a one visit and done solution. We work with families over a period of time.”

Although hunger is invisible most of the time, it is present in every community, she said.

“Hunger is one of those things that you can’t tell by looking at someone that they’re hungry. It’s not obvious,” Servos said. “It really is in all of our schools, in our neighborhoods and in our churches. The reality is that it could be you or me, and you wouldn’t know."

The process

Before her visit to Prodisee Nov. 13, Avera had been twice before, but the number of people in her household and several other factors had changed since her last visit, so she had to update her information.

Prodisee’s ministry is housed in a huge building on Highway 31 in Spanish Fort. Nov. 13, the parking lot filled up quickly, and the line to enter stretched the length of the building. Because about 150 people volunteer at the pantry every Tuesday, each person it serves has an individualized experience.

After waiting in line, first time visitors or people like Avera who need to update their information meet with a volunteer, who asks questions about their household size, income and special needs. This information is taken to the volunteers in the back of the building, who load a grocery cart full of food that meets each family’s needs.

“We bring hope by feeding physical, emotional and spiritual hunger, and that’s done in a whole lot of ways,” Servos said. “You can’t just do that by giving everybody a bag of beans and some rice. You have to meet people where they are — if you have a kid, we’ll try to give you Froot Loops.”

Considerations are made not only for the number and ages of family members, but also for medical needs. If someone is diabetic or a cancer patient, they need different food than most families, and Servos said the volunteers try to accommodate those needs.

Once the grocery cart is full of food, the family’s name is called, and two volunteers accompany each family to their vehicle, where they help unload the groceries.  

For Avera, the process took three hours. She made the 45-minute drive with two other families, who pooled their gas money together to make the trip, and they arrived at 7:30 a.m. She waited in line with her 2-year-old grandson Douglas until about 9 a.m., and she spent about 15 minutes sitting at a table giving her information to a volunteer. After that, the process moved quickly. Her groceries were being taken to her car at about 10 a.m.

But Avera also needed to talk to someone about signing up for food stamps. Prodisee Pantry houses what Servos calls supporting programs, which help people with all kinds of needs — from signing up for food stamps to getting flu shots to financial counseling — many other ministries and agencies use space at Prodisee’s building to help people move forward.

“If you need groceries, there is something else going on in your world that needs to be addressed,” Servos said. “We’re not just about handing out groceries, or we would just have people pull up, and we’d fill them in their car and they could pull out. We’re about trying to help people move forward one baby step at a time, so the supporting partners are a critical part of what we do.”

Many people have assumptions about families or individuals who come to places like Prodisee Pantry for help, but Servos said she and the volunteers look past stereotypes and try to see every person as an individual and a child of God. When someone is hungry, it’s hard to move forward in other areas of life, Servos said.

“There are always families who are going to face the entitlement problem, but if they come in and we get to talk to them, then our goal is to help them understand that God has a better plan for them and that they can do better,” she said. “We call it the little ‘Come to Jesus’ speech. The reality is there will always be those families who will take advantage of something that’s out there, but we truly are seeing so many who really need the help. It’s just not something you can fake. And there are so many people who we watch have success stories and who move forward.”

Biblical beginnings

Prodisee Pantry opened its doors in November of 2003 as the vision of three women in Spanish Fort who wanted to embody Matthew 25:35, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

“We kind of heard there were no poor people in Spanish Fort, and we knew that wasn’t true, so we decided we would go ahead with the plans to start a food pantry,” Servos said. “We did our research, and we prayed that families would come.”

At the time, there were six churches trying to fill the need in the community, but most of the donations were canned foods, beans, rice, peanut butter or other staples, Servos said.

“It became apparent that families didn’t need six bags of beans, six bags of rice and six jars of peanut butter,” she said.

So the program grew, and within a few years, Prodisee Pantry began to supply families with fresh produce, eggs, and other foods families would buy at the grocery store if they could. They worked out deals with grocery stores, farmers and others to buy quality foods at low prices.

Grants and donations also enabled the pantry to grow and survive, supplying freezers, refrigerators, a loading dock and financial support. Servos said every time the pantry has had a need, the staff and volunteers prayed, and the need has been met.

“I believe God will always provide what we need to help our community,” she said. “With faith and hope, we can make a difference. It is really Baldwin County helping Baldwin County, and I think that is so special.”

Prodisee Pantry is always in need of financial support, volunteers and prayer, Servos said. For more information, visit www.prodiseepantry.org or call 251-626-1720.