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Press Releases
FORT LAUDERDALE
Pantry a friend to seniors in need . . .
A food pantry that hopes to provide a lot more than food to the elderly poor of
Broward is under construction -- but needs help from the community.
Posted on Sun, Apr. 27, 2008
BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ
dmoskovitz@MiamiHerald.com
A new agency aimed at helping poor senior citizens with food, eyeglasses,
hearing aids and a host of other services is set to open soon in Fort
Lauderdale.
The Pantry of Broward Inc., the nonprofit group leading the effort, is
renovating a building at 610 NW Third Ave.
The Pantry hopes to serve two groups: the elderly poor and needy grandparents
who are raising their grandchildren.
Broward County is home to about 244,000 people who are 65 or older, according to
the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Of those, nearly 28,000 -- or
about 11 percent -- live in poverty.
Worse off are grandparents who live with their grandchildren. An estimated
11,000, about 27 percent, were living in poverty, Census figures show.
The poverty rate depends on family size. For example, a family of three,
including two children, is considered poor if they have income of $16,242 or
less a year. That's about $312 a week.
''Often the cards are stacked again them,'' said Bruce Harris, director of
development for The Pantry of Broward Inc, ``and we are trying to help.''
Besides filling boxes with nutritional food for older people, The Pantry will
provide cooking classes, suggestions on menu planning and on how to buy food
more economically.
Workers will provide transportation, referrals and classes on how to read the
insurance cards some seniors received when they had to give up Medicare for an
HMO to buy their medications.
The Pantry wants to provide names and telephone numbers of businesses that help
seniors repair or replace their eyeglasses, help out with electric bills and
suggest where to buy medicines.
Right now, the pantry is trying to find local doctors, optometrists and other
professionals who can offer services, Harris said.
A budget of about $250,000 for the pantry's first year comes largely from
donations and grants.
''What happens when somebody is a senior on a very fixed income? Obviously, they
have to pay some sort of rent, then medicine. Then they tell us that some days
they have to choose between buying food and buying medicine,'' Harris said.
For low-income grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, the group hopes
to offer help navigating government bureaucracy as they become legal guardians
to the children. They also want to help the grandparents tap into local support
networks aimed at assisting them.
Group leaders are reaching out to other agencies that work with the elderly to
see what types of services already are offered and what is truly needed, Harris
said.
Once completed, The Pantry building will include office space for social
workers, meeting areas and a pantry to store all the food, Harris said. The
building is now undergoing renovations and getting city approvals.
The Pantry of Broward hopes the renovations will be finished by June.
Anyone who asks for help will first be interviewed by a social worker, either at
the building or with an at-home visit, Harris said.
The biggest hurdle: the pride felt by many elderly people, Harris said.
''Seniors are very proud, and it's difficult for them to ask for help,'' he
said.
The Pantry started with the help of Fort Lauderdale resident Elizabeth ''B.J.''
Buntrock.
Buntrock had a friend who worked at a local pantry and was driven to tears by
the number of older people she saw who needed help.
Buntrock decided to do something, and that became The Pantry.
''What we want to do is ease the burden on people who, through no fault of their
own, get to the end of their life and they are broke,'' Buntrock said.
Those who think they or someone they know could use The Pantry's help can
call 954-358-1481 or visit www.thepantryofbroward.org.
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