From left, St. Vincent DePaul volunteers, from left, Dan Trotochaud, Mary Trotochaud and Tina Lynch move groceries in the food pantry. (Journal photo by Abby LaForest)

MARQUETTE  —  The St. Vincent DePaul Society food pantry in Marquette is a busy place, too much so for the people who volunteer there every month.

That’s not to say the 40 or so volunteers that make the pantry at 2119 Presque Isle Ave, in Marquette, run smoothly aren’t aren’t willing to work, according to Bob Barton, chairman of the food pantry committee. Quite the contrary.

“We have great volunteers,” he said, noting the volunteers work about 5,500 hours per year. “But the need is growing …”

Barton offers these numbers: In April 2024, 190 families received free food from the pantry. One year later, the number had jumped to 230, an increase of 26 percent. In fiscal year 2023-24, 2,187 local families received free food. Put another way, that added up to 4,973 people, many of them children.

Barton blames the high cost of living in the greater Marquette area and families where the adults are working fulltime for low wages as among key reasons the St. Vincent’s food pantry, and dozens of others in the central Upper Peninsula, are so busy.

Where does all this food come from? One unlikely source is Marquette Branch Prison in Marquette where inmates tend a vegetable garden.

“The garden program serves multiple purposes, including providing fresh food to local communities, offering inmates vocational skills training and fostering a sense of responsibility and connection to the natural world,” a Michigan Department of Corrections spokeswoman said. “Inmates participate in the garden program by working in the gardens, learning gardening techniques and contributing to the harvest. The produce grown in the gardens is donated to local food pantries, community groups and other non-profit organizations.”

And it’s not just Marquette. The MDOC garden programs across the state of Michigan have donated over 100,000 pounds of fresh food to various organizations to date, she said. Locally, prison personnel arrive at the pantry once a week after harvesting begins, Barton said, dropping off an estimated 50 pounds of fresh tomatoes, zucchini, squash and green onions each time.

Clients, Barton said, favor the fresh produce, “as opposed to canned goods,” he said. “We provide it if we have it.”

Other entities that provide food include TV6 through its Canathon; the U.S. Post Office through its Stamp out Hunger program; Meijer foods which donates food and money; Super One Foods has a program called Round Up where money is donated; Wal-Mart donates thousands of pounds of food each month; and the pantry buys food from Feeding America-West Michigan.

The Northern Michigan University women’s lacrosse team volunteers to help move proceeds from the TV6 Canathon.

Bud Sargent can be reached at 906-228-2500. His email address is bsargent@miningjournal.net