Our Daily Bread invites clients back inside pantry

Seminarian Miles Swigart, assisting clients at Our Daily Bread Food Pantry.

Our Daily Bread invites clients back inside pantry

After operating for more than a year as a drive thru, volunteers at Our Daily Bread Food Pantry (ODB) were excited to welcome clients back into the pantry building June 1.

With a lower infection rate in Sedgwick County, combined with rising vaccination levels and the relaxing of COVID precautions, program director Joe Seitz said ODB was ready to safely reopen its doors to clients.

Coming into the building allows clients to choose the food items that they want for their family, rather than receiving a pre-packaged box of items that were distributed through the drive thru.

“We are still taking precautions, such as a one-way route through the pantry, and are so happy to welcome clients inside again,” Joe says. “While the drive thru certainly served its purpose and was necessary, the volunteers and I agree that we can better serve our clients with dignity and respect when they are able to choose the food items they want.”

Joe says the early response from clients has been favorable. “One client recently shared with a volunteer that they prefer Our Daily Bread to other pantries in Wichita because ‘you guys treat us like human beings,’” he says.

Joe says that the pantry is still busier than it was prior to the March 2020 shutdowns, but the numbers have slowed since the height of the pandemic when 2,000 families would come each month.

“We are serving about 1,500 families a month now, or about twice what we were doing before the pandemic,” he says.

How you can help feed the hungry

Make a cash donation that allows Joe to purchase discounted items in bulk.

Organize a food drive at your church or workplace.

Become a volunteer.