THOSE WHO HELP NEEDY ALSO ARE IN NEED OF HELP

The cupboard isn't bare, but the FISH food pantry is considerably less than full these days.

"In fact, we have nothing on our back storage shelves at all," said Audrey Daniel, who heads up the food pantry operated by FISH, the city's Christian emergency relief organization.

Daniel and other FISH volunteers are looking forward to the group's annual food drive on Oct. 6, in hopes of restocking the shelves of the food pantry at the Maple Avenue United Methodist Church, 624 S. Ellis.

"We do have a wonderful response from the community every single year," said Daniel.

The charitable organization has been in operation for 11 years. It depends on its fall food drive, financial donations and a separate food drive by the Boy Scouts to provide nutritious food for those in need.

FISH also is aided by some churches that donate food to the pantry every month, said Daniel.

She said the pantry can use such food items as canned fruits, vegetables and soup, as well as packaged soup, pastas like macaroni and spaghetti, baby food, peanut butter, canned chili, instant potatoes, powdered milk, cereals and crackers.

The pantry is intended to provide food to people on an emergency basis. A needy person or family can receive free food only once every four months.

"These people are served on an average of once every four to six months," said Daniel.

Those in need, she said, are provided enough food for three basic meals a day for five days. "We feed probably anywhere from 200 to 300 people a month," said Daniel.

From May 1, 1990, to April 30, FISH provided food to 1,096 families, or more than 3,000 individuals, Daniel said.

More than 3,000 bags of food were distributed, as well as 81 packages of diapers, 185 bags of federal commodities from the U.S. Agriculture Department, and 200 travel packs, she said.

Travel packs are provided to transients and contain food such as peanut butter and small cans of fruit or pudding.

As to the regular food bags, she said, "They are packed tight with food from top to bottom." The bags contain canned goods, dried package goods, and frozen meat.

"We buy ground beef every month," explained Daniel.

FISH succeeds, she said, because of the efforts of its volunteers. "We have super volunteers. We have about 25 volunteers in the pantry and then another 25-plus that are on the FISH phone line, and together we get the job done."

Volunteers man the FISH phone line Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., answering calls from those in need of food. The telephone number is 334-0207.

The food pantry, she said, mainly serves those in need in Cape Girardeau, and to a lesser extent in the outlying county. "In an emergency situation, we do provide assistance for a few people in Southern Illinois, like over in East Cape," she added.

Daniel said the food-pantry effort has continued to grow over the years to meet the ever-growing need.

"We keep adding about 50 new families every month over what we had the year before. That's about 600 new families a year that we have to deal with," said Daniel.

"Originally, it started out as a one-time-only thing. That was the way it was supposed to be, but it has turned out to be so much more involved than that," said Daniel, "especially when there are so many children involved, especially hungry children. It just breaks your heart."

In times of economic woes, she said, more people go hungry. "With the increased closing of plants, that puts more people in that situation.

"We've had several situations where we have had what you would call white-collar employees who were laid off or the plant has closed down," said Daniel. "These were people who would work as janitors (if they could), but they weren't allowed to work because they were over qualified."

She said such people are often embarrassed to seek help from FISH.

Daniel said some of the people served by the food pantry want to stay on welfare, but others are trying to help themselves and need a little assistance.

"It's a little hard sometimes not to sit in judgment," said Daniel. "We know there are people who abuse the system; they abuse the government system; they abuse the volunteer system. Those we try to weed out if at all possible."

Said Daniel, "We are told by government agencies that when you provide too much help, it takes away the incentive for people to try to help themselves."

She said: "You have that small number (of persons) who are pretty demanding and think that you have to give it to them. But the majority are most grateful and appreciative and say so. They tell us over and over again, `We thank God you are here.'"

Many times those who have been helped, return the favor when they get back on their feet, donating food to the pantry, she said.

"There is never a day that goes by where some people do not say thank you," said Daniel.