Support the Hill City Food Pantry

With increasing prices and supply shortages, the Hill City Food Pantry needs the support of the community to keep the shelves stocked for those in need.

Dale and Susan Householder have been serving the community through the Hill City Food Pantry for around eight years. 

“When we took over the food pantry, I think we had about around $2,500 in the account,” said Dale Householder. “About two years ago, we got up to as high as $29,000 in donations. We had a really good cushion.” 

Donations were coming, food was readily available and there were city-wide food drives led by local organizations. 

However, post Covid-19, things have “dwindled,” especially in the last two years. 

“We’re spending far more each month than we take in. We’re down to about $18,000 in our account, which is tremendous for a food pantry our size, and I still think it’s great. But it’s going down,” said Householder. 

Along with this, Householder said, “There were a lot of community food drives that we don’t seem to have anymore.” 

One of the things the Householders did when taking over the food pantry was switch to getting commodities through Feeding South Dakota (FSD), which is a subsidiary of the national organization Feeding America. Dale Householder said this was not because they did not want to buy locally because they still do buy items locally. Rather, it was because FSD is an agency designed for food pantries. Commodities can be bought for a better price, and all the meat is $0.18 per pound. 

“You just can’t compete buying meat,” said Householder.

Meat was one of the things the food pantry did not provide when Householder took over. Since then, refrigerators and freezers have been added to the pantry. 

At first through FSD, Householder had between six and eight pages with 25 to 30 items per page that he could order from for the pantry. However, the latest order form Householder used was less than a page and a half long. 

“We have very little choice. And some of the things that they get now, quite frankly people that frequent our pantry don’t use so I’m even more limited,” said Householder. 

They are still able to get meat, canned vegetables and soup among other things, but Householder said numbers are tightening across the board due to the economy. 

“There are three warehouses in South Dakota—Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City. Rapid City used to get three semi loads a week. They get three semi-loads a month now. That’s it. So their warehouse is pretty slim pickings,” said Householder. 

FSD gets its trucks through Feeding America, which has more buying power as a big organization. However, Householder said big companies are not donating like they used to.

“I don’t know whether the tax laws may have changed so they don’t get the write-offs they used to get. It’s easier for them to just chuck it or something. But they aren’t getting it from the large companies,” said Householder. 

He said it is very fortunate that the local Sam’s Club is still donating as that is where the majority of the meat for the Hill City Food Pantry comes from. 

“That’s a blessing. Boy, if they quit, we’d be in a world of hurt,” said Householder. 

In the latest FSD newsletter, it said, “We know that the agency menu has been looking different post-Covid. This is due to a shift in food sources to FSD. Between our 2023 and 2024 Fiscal Years the pounds of food donated, which go on the agency menu at $0.18/per pound, decreased by 71 percent.” 

FSD has two structures for food including donated items and purchased items. 

Householder said, “Donated items are generally very cheap for us to buy. Basically, it’s just enough to cover their cost of doing business. Then, they have purchased items. Those are far more expensive.”

This was addressed in the latest FSD newsletter, saying, “Understanding that it’s important for our partners to access food through us, we began purchasing high-demand items for the agency menu. We understand that these items come at a greater cost. However, purchasing has been the only option to ensure there is inventory available. 

“In the first quarter of our 2024 Fiscal Year, we received 1,639,402 pounds of donated food, of which 47 percent has been distributed to agency partners. Our Food Sourcing Team continues to work with retailers and industry partners to secure donated food items, and we hope that by the end of this fiscal year we’re able to see a positive trend.”

Thus, even years later the Covid-19 pandemic appears to be affecting the supply chain. 

“Covid has changed this world. We’re having residual effects that are so long-lasting. It’s a shame. But it has happened, and now we have to deal with what there is,” said Householder. “We’re not seeing anything getting better. So I’m worried that we have a change, and it’s probably a lasting change. Is it the idea that the philosophy of giving in America has changed? I don’t know.”

What Householder did know is people in Hill City are still giving. 

Hill City Dollar General store manager Angie Perkins has been donating cartloads of commodities to the food pantry. 

Householder said, “Angie at Dollar General has just been tremendous. Dollar General, before Angie came, evidently had to throw out a lot of stuff that came to their best sell-by date. Now Angie gives that to the food pantry. And of course, sell-by date doesn’t mean it goes bad the next day. We have a lot of leeway. We can get a whole cart full of bags of stuff, and those are things we never could have gotten through FSD. So it gives our pantry a little variety, and people like that. I guess they never know what they’re going to get.”

Every week there’s something different. 

“For instance, we never get coffee. This time, she had four, five bags of different kinds of coffee. Well, that’s something our people have never been able to get,” said Householder. “That’s a real blessing that she’s done that for us.”

Meanwhile, the other day, someone went to Krull’s Market and bought $300 worth of items to put in the box in the entryway. Another person donated $100 at Krull’s, and Householder was able to shop for what the pantry needed. 

“Oh wow, that was a blessing,” said Householder. 

Along with this, the Hill City Pack Mule set up a box for donations during November, Miner Brewing Co. donated the proceeds from its Craft Beer & Bingo to the pantry and the Hill City Lions Club has been collecting donations for the pantry during its bingos. 

At Thanksgiving, the Hill City Senior Citizens partnered with the food pantry for a special FSD Thanksgiving food basket project. 

“We were able to hand out 50 baskets. The cost to the senior center was about $198 for all of that food, and we’ve already had donations to cover that. So 50 families in this community were blessed with a Thanksgiving basket,” said Householder. “It just warms your heart to see. It’s just so fun to have somebody come in and say, ‘Hey, thank you.’”

All told, it was about 1,100 pounds of food, and Householder had to take a trailer up to Rapid City to transport it. 

“One of the reasons that we wanted to partner with the senior center is because we had the room here ... the freezer to put the turkeys and pies,” said Householder. “We didn’t have that room at the pantry, and we recognized that we have some seniors in our organization that need a little extra help. So it was a win-win for doing it here.”

Even so, the food pantry still needs additional support from the community. 

The goal of the pantry is to help community members in the Hill City School District. 

“Everybody has a point in their life when they’re down,” said Householder. “We’re not here to be a grocery store. We’re here to help people through tough times. That’s our whole mission—to help people when they need help.”

There are no qualifications for people to use the food pantry. 

“You never know what a family circumstance may be. So we don’t judge people by that. If you feel you need help, then we’re willing to help you. We’re not going to judge you,” said Householder. “We don’t ask for any financial information. We only ask your name, your address, and how many people are in your family. We have to report that to FSD each month.”

It is also a free choice pantry so participants can choose what they need on their own. Families under four are limited to two sacks of food, two meats and two rolls of toilet paper. Families of four or more are offered a third bag. Between 75 and 85 families utilize the food pantry every month.

The pantry is located at Little White Church on a handicap-accessible level. The hours are Monday and Friday from 9-11 a.m. 

“But anytime the church office is open, people can come in,” said Householder. “The church has been very cooperative that way.”

The pantry is managed by a community board made up of four churches including the Little White Church, Community Lutheran Church, Lighthouse Assembly of God and St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. The Hill City Lions Club helps as well. From here the board meets quarterly to discuss how things are going and whether changes need to be made. 

Little White Church handles the financial management of the pantry through a separate fund. The Householders do all of the ordering and stocking in the pantry and serve as backups if volunteers are needed to run the pantry on a Monday or Friday. 

Usually once a week the Householders do the ordering online and drive to the FSD warehouse in Rapid City and pick up 200 to 600 pounds of commodities depending on what is available. 

“I try to keep a good variety of nutritional things,” said Dale Householder. 

Between Oct. 1, 2023 and Nov. 1, 2024, 53 orders were placed for a total weight of 18,862 pounds of commodities for $10,204.44. 

“I understand that if people say, ‘Oh, you’ve got $18,000. I don’t want to donate.’ I get that, but we’re doing our very best to manage what funds we have. I’d love to have coming in what’s going out, but right now it’s definitely a deficit each month,” said Householder. 

Anyone interested in donating to the Hill City Food Pantry can do so financially through the Little White Church. Community members could also add a few extra items to their carts as they shop and place them in the boxes at Krull’s Market and Dollar General after checking out. 

“Any nonperishable food item really we’ll gladly accept,” said Householder. 

Needs vary all the time. Some weeks the pantry needs cereal, and other weeks it needs canned vegetables. Householder said individually wrapped toilet paper is always a need since it cannot be purchased through FSD. 

“They were costing me $0.48 a roll. It’s gone to $0.78 a roll now. That’s one of the reasons our funds are starting to go down. Prices have gone up, up,” said Householder. 

Along with donations, Householder said the absence of community food drives was concerning. 

“It’s a very worthwhile project, and one I’m very proud to be associated with,” said Householder. “This is a sharing, giving community. I’m just so impressed with the Hill City community.”