A NEW NAME, MISSION — Effective today, Urban Mission Ministries’ food pantry begins operating under the new name “Fresh Market,” which means not only is the pantry expanding its hours and days to reach more people in need, it also is offering more fresh food for healthier choices. In the days leading up to the change, mission representatives preparing for the switch were, from left, Kitty Lancaster, pantry director; Amber Wade, financial director; Tatyana Dixon, food pantry receptionist; Juanita Slappy, community food system coordinator; and the Rev. Ashley Steele, the mission’s executive director. -- Janice Kiaski

STEUBENVILLE — The food pantry operated by Urban Mission Ministries has had varied names in its history, including God’s Pantry and in more recent years, the Client Choice Pantry.

Today, however, it becomes the “Fresh Market,” and that’s for a couple of reasons, according to the Rev. Ashley Steele, the mission’s executive director.

In an effort to better serve the community, Steele said the pantry is expanding its hours and working to offer more food to more people, providing more fresh food.

“By staying open later and offering weekend hours, we know we can reach more people, more often,” Steele noted. “We will also be open weekly for our customers to visit instead of limiting their visit to once a month. Not only will we be able to get out more food, to more people, we will also provide more fresh foods which will provide healthier choices to those who visit our market,” Steele said.

The name change reflects, in part, expanding the amount of fresh food that is provided through the pantry. “We believe wholeheartedly in providing healthier foods to the families who come through the pantry, and that would be produce, fresh meats, dairy, anything that might be a little more difficult to access, we want to provide that, and the food bank in Columbus is really one of the main providers,” Steele explained. “A lot of our local grocery stores also contribute to giving us those healthier foods so we want to provide to as many people as possible,” she said.

“The other part of it is our entire initiative that’s been happening throughout these last several years has been ‘The Fresh Start’ initiative, so that name, ‘Fresh Market,’ plays off of our ‘Fresh Start’ idea,” Steele said.

The pantry is located in the mission warehouse at 311 N. Sixth St. Fresh paint and a simple “Fresh Market” mural combine for a fresh look.

“Our main goal is to get more food and healthier food out to more people more often,” Steele reiterated, noting that typically, families are welcome to come once a month “and sometimes that is dependent on how much the pantry can actually provide for families and the number of volunteers and so that’s typically why all pantries are open at least once a month.

“Because we want to get more food out to more people more often, we decided we would take a step of faith and stretch our ability to provide more food more often by being open every week,” she continued. “We do realize that people, when they visit our pantry once a month, that may not satisfy their entire month’s food need, so we want to encourage people to come more often so they could have more access to fresh foods that we do get on a weekly basis, and this would allow us to get more of that out,” she said.

“It’s also because we’ve expanded the number of days that we are serving,” she said of the name change. “We know that that’s a little bit easier for families to visit if they have more options, including a Saturday option, which will be at least once a month for now, and we could expand that if the demand is there,” she continued.

The times also have changed to reflect the following extended hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and the third Saturday fo the month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. “You can get emergency food other days, but those are our primary days for the pantry to be open.”

The previous schedule had been 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Families that previously came once a month can now come Tuesday through Friday every week if they want, but up to four or five times a month, depending on how many weeks are in a month, according to Steele.

“The hours we have extended because we did not want to create a disincentive to people who are working during the day, who have a difficult time coming to the pantry,” she added.

Fresh Market also will implement “a new-to-us system where everybody who becomes a member of our food pantry/Fresh Market will receive a tag similar to what you would get at grocery stores with a bar code on the back. Our families would receive that, and we would scan their membership card,” Steele said.

“We have more than 2,000 families who are signed up to receive food through the Urban Mission each month,” Steele said in offering an overview of the number of people served. “Typically that represents families coming from surrounding counties although we have served individuals and families from 11 different counties, mostly Ohio, but also we have served individuals and families in West Virginia, so that’s a lot of people coming through on a monthly basis,” she said. “We probably average more than a thousand families each month. Whether they’re the same families or different, although we track that, it varies depending on the needs of that family that month,” Steele added.

“The money that funds our entire food operation comes from local donations, whether it’s through individuals or churches, and occasionally we’ll write a grant and receive funding to purchase additional food,” she said. “We do receive a lot of what you would call in-kind donations through the grocery stores here in this area, and then also through Mid-Ohio Food Bank, although we do have to purchase food through them, we also can receive reduced-cost foods and free food as well. For every dollar donated to the Urban Mission that we put toward food purchases through the food bank, we can buy anywhere from $10 to $11 worth of food,” Steele added.

Volunteers are always needed.

“We are always looking for volunteers, and because of the expanded hours and days, perhaps that would welcome volunteers who typically can’t volunteer during the day but could come in an evening, so that’s something we look forward to hearing from more folks to see if they want to volunteer in that capacity,” Steele said. The number is (740) 282-8010.