This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Listen to this story by clicking the LISTEN play button above.
David Nicholas: Although many Michigan soup kitchens receive food directly from local donors, many rely on food banks to get a variety of items on their shelves. It's a message we've been sharing with you over the last couple of days. WCMU's Tina Sawyer takes us to the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen in Mount Pleasant to show us one way they diversify their menu with food bank dollars and the effort to feed the community.
Tina Sawyer: Volunteers are busy getting ready for the lunchtime crowd, which it's already pretty busy here, so we're going to go inside and see how they're doing. As I walk in, they seem to have quite a bit of people here already. The volunteers are behind a partition handing out a lot of breakfast items.
TS: I'm going to head back into the kitchen to find the kitchen manager to see what the special of the day is for lunch today and see what she's cooking up.
TS: That's when I met up with Jane Wilshire. She oversees everything at the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen.
Jane Wilshire: Right now, I am looking for my oven mitts! I have Teriyaki chicken drumsticks coming out of the oven. These were trayed up by a volunteer earlier this morning and popped into the oven, cooked to the proper temperature. Then I sauced them with the teriyaki sauce, popped them back in to make sure that they get a little crispier and kind of caramelized on top I got a duet going here.
JW: These are chicken drumsticks that were donated from a local store. I will get an idea where I want to make something and I may have to order something to just...not too many people would think oh, I'll donate teriyaki sauce to the soup kitchen.
TS: And that buzzing you hear is the ovens telling Jane that the chicken is ready.
JW: We get a lot of the same products like ground beef. We have a lot of ground beef and you know, there's only so many times you can make meatloaf, nachos. The same things till you try to keep up with different ideas, different flavor profiles and that kind of thing. If you can support in any way by making a financial donation so that we can purchase things that we need or by donating. We truly appreciate it.
TS: To learn more about how the food banks tie into the process, I left the kitchen and headed to the office of Isabella Community Soup Kitchen Executive Director Sarah Adkins. She says the food banks have partnerships with certain area stores. So, if the soup kitchen needs something that isn't directly donated to them, they can utilize those food bank dollars to get it.
Sarah Adkins: The Greater Lansing Food Bank is kind of the agency over those businesses who provide food to us. They are the members, which makes us a member. That's just kind of how the flow of their program works. We are a member of them and we have them for a long time.
TS: Sarah says food insecurity has risen in Isabella County but with continued donations, they are here for the community.
SA: From what we've seen, our numbers have definitely increased over the years and we are serving more folks. Things are more expensive and it makes people who may already be struggling, you know, it just makes it more challenging for them to be able to provide consistent nutrition and great quality food.
TS: I heard lunch was starting. So, I took a trip back out into the dining area. That's where I met up with long-time patron Pat Spence, who's been coming to the soup kitchen for 25 years.
Pat Spence: I like most food. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, anything like that. And we'll always have dessert. I take it home.
TS: And if you don't like what's being offered, Pat has some sound advice.
PS: If you don't like it then...there's the door!
DN: That was WCMU's Tina Sawyer reporting from the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen.
