Sun staff
The YWCA Emergency Food Pantry in Batavia will close at the end of December.
Staring Jan. 4, pantry services will transition to Inter Parish Ministry.
IPM is headquartered in Newtown with a satellite location at the First Presbyterian Church in Batavia, and monthly mobile pantries.
“This is a bittersweet transition,” said Eileen Hopkins, Director of Education and Training for the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati. “We’ve been doing this for a long time.”
The pantry has been serving Clermont County for more than 50 years, and in 2014, more than 5,000 individuals received food through the pantry, according to Hopkins.
The pantry is closing due to lack of funding and insufficient space.
“For the past five years, we have not raised enough money to match the money and funding used,” said Hopkins. “We’ve had to take resources from other areas, such as restricted funds, to fill in the funding gaps.”
IPM, a food and clothing pantry partner of the YWCA through the Clermont County Safety Net Alliance, has sufficient space and staffing to implement best practices, including delivering food through a ‘choice pantry model’ and providing more comprehensive support services, according to Hopkins.
“The IPM pantries are set up like grocery stores where clients can choose the products they want instead of receiving pre-made bags of food,” Hopkins said in an email. “In addition, clients will receive collaborative case management services from IPM that allow them to explore the root causes related to the need for food assistance and assist them in getting additional supports that can help them find the path to stability and self-sufficiency.”
She added, “IPM also utilizes mobile food pantries throughout Clermont County for those living in rural areas where access to food is challenging.”
The YWCA has been working with IPM over the past two years to make this transition very carefully, according to Hopkins. She said IPM, which has provided emergency assistance to residents in Clermont and Hamilton counties for more than 50 years, is looking to grow its presence in Clermont County.
“They will be able to meet the needs of the community,” she said. “We’ll be doing together what we could not do separately.”
Lindsey Ein, executive director for IPM, said many YWCA clients are also IPM clients.
“We want to be able to help them as best we can,” she said.
Hopkins said she hopes the transition will allow the YWCA to be more effective in its core programs, which focus on eliminating racism and empowering women.
In addition to a programmatic focusing, the YWCA in Batavia will undergo some physical changes.
The building will be outfitted with new windows, the exterior will be repainted, and the inside space will be reconfigured to better serve clients. Hopkins expects the updates to be completed by spring 2016.
The interior was painted last year.
Hopkins said the hardest part of the transition is the human capital.
“We know our clients will be taken care of at IPM, but folks have been long-term supporters of our mission and services, and we’re hopeful IPM will welcome our existing volunteers,” she said.
Lynn Stranz has been the food pantry coordinator at the YWCA in Batavia for 30 years; due to the transition, her position was eliminated.
“We’re very sad to see the pantry close,” Stranz said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, and there’s still a lot of need in the community.”