By the time Bay Chapel Food Pantry in Tampa, Florida, opens on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m., vehicles have been lined up for quite a while. In recent weeks volunteers have already served as many as 100 people by the official start time, passing out boxes and bags filled with food.
The current need is the greatest volunteers at the ministry have ever seen.
A year ago, Bay Chapel Food Pantry, which serves people from a parking lot at Tampa Bay Presbyterian Church (PCA), was serving between 300 and 400 households each week. In November 2025, they averaged nearly 600 families a week.
The 43-day government shutdown — which began on October 1 and ended on November 12 — coupled with rising inflation, has caused more people to seek help, explains Michele Schielka, who started this food pantry with her husband in 2015.
The recent government shutdown caused a near-instant spike in need, with almost 100 additional households coming to the food pantry, she said.
“I know for sure we’re getting some of those, because we get some inquiries ahead of time,” Schielka said. “But honestly, I would say a good 75%, maybe 80%, are people that just can’t afford food.”
The demand has been so high that the pantry held some special distributions on days when they do not customarily operate. The food distributed is not enough to keep a family’s pantry completely stocked, but offers a bit of relief for those trying to stretch a tight budget.
“We like to consider it a hand up, not a hand out,” Schielka said. “They’re not going to get a month’s worth of food, but we try to give enough in one box or bag that it’s at least a meal or two.”
When Schielka and her husband first founded the pantry, they, along with another couple, financially covered the food they were giving out. As the ministry grew, God brought in other forms of support, including Tampa Bay Presbyterian Church, which allows them to place their transport trailer in the church parking lot to serve as the distribution site.
They now also purchase food at discounted prices through Feeding Tampa Bay and partner with grocery stores to get food that is nearing its expiration date.
Schielka said they don’t ask for any form of verification, but try to help whoever pulls into the line looking for help.
“We feel like our call is to give it away,” she said. “They have to answer to God if they need it or they don’t need it.”
While they have the volunteers they need to meet the demand they’re seeing, Schielka said they can always use more food and financial donations. People who would like to donate can do so on their website at https://baychapelfoodpantry.org/.
New Hope Food Pantry in Olathe, Kansas, which is supported by New Hope Presbyterian Church, has also seen growing demand for food this fall.
New Hope’s director, Luke Stivers, said there’s often a lag between when large government changes are made and when those changes impact pantries. He’s seen a higher volume of patrons in recent months.
“When those pantries are shut down, those clients will migrate to other, larger pantries, pantries like our own,” Stivers said. “We definitely feel an increase in visits.”
At New Hope, they ordinarily serve an average of 50 families a day, but have been setting new records this fall. In November, they reached 81 people in one day for the first time.
As much as they’re able to help, Stivers knows it’s not enough.
“Theoretically, the food is supposed to last a month. There’s no way that the perishables we’re handing out are going to last a whole month,” he said.
He is thankful for the generosity of those who have been giving.
“People tend to think of the needy as you come into Thanksgiving and Christmastime,” he added. “This tends to be a good season for pantries.”
New Hope’s volunteers have also built good relationships with local grocery stores, which helps them keep their pantry stocked with perishable items.
Canned protein is one category where they could always use more donations because those staples will sustain people in the days after the perishables run out and provide needed nourishment to get families through until their next visit.
“That’s hard for us (to keep stocked), even as a pantry that’s large and does pretty well,” Stivers explained. “There’s almost always a need for canned beans, canned tuna, canned salmon, chicken, canned proteins and generally peanut butter.”
To do this work also requires a lot of volunteers. New Hope currently has 115 regular volunteers and 30 semi-regular volunteers they can call on. Stivers believes it is crucial for Christians to be involved in this kind of work because hospitality and caring for the poor are key teachings in Scripture. Throughout Christian history, believers have asked what justice looks like from God’s perspective.
“A large part of that is people’s need for relief from debt and relief from poverty and relief from hunger,” Stivers said.
He said this work can be both rewarding and frustrating.
“There are many things that we can do for clients. We can give them food. Other non-profits can give them housing. But the most difficult thing is when whatever we can offer is just not enough to change the situation, because sometimes there’s an internal change that needs to happen.”
By offering spiritual help, Christians can help address those internal issues as well as fill bellies, he believes.
“Helping people in need is, in my opinion, the highest outworking of our own gratitude for God helping us as very needy people,” Stivers said. “He has given us food without price. He’s given us drink for free, and so the least we can do is to give physical drink and food to those in need.”
John Cordova is a deacon who oversees Father’s Cupboard, a ministry of Grace Redeemer Church in Glen Rock, New Jersey. The ministry serves about 120 families each month. Their numbers have been impacted over this past year, although somewhat differently than other parts of the country.
Because they have served a large Hispanic demographic, Cordova said they actually saw a dip in clients over the summer as many Latinos avoided places that could be targeted by immigration officials.
“We’ve heard from some of the recipients that some people are just afraid to come,” Cordova said, noting that they don’t ask people to provide their immigration status.
During the Thanksgiving season, Cordova said they encourage people to sponsor a turkey and a box of food. The donations that come in at this time often carry the pantry through seasons when meeting the needs of others isn’t at the forefront.
Cordova makes sure that when they pass out the donations, people know that the church’s motivation for helping is based on God’s teaching.
“When we open our meeting, we tell people that Father’s Cupboard is a ministry of Grace Redeemer Church,” he said. “We believe Jesus calls us to serve those in our community who are in need. I want them to know it’s a church ministry, and that’s what our motivation is.”