Logan • Nadean Hickox has gotten the essentials from the Cache Community Food Pantry for almost a decade now. She’s on a fixed income, and sometimes there’s simply not enough money to cover groceries.
“And the way the economy’s gone downhill,” she said, “there’s times that it would be hard to fix dinner if you didn’t come here.”
But the Logan pantry that Hickox and so many other Cache Valley residents rely on to stock their cabinets is struggling to keep food on its shelves amid increased demand.
Last month, the pantry posted on its Facebook page saying its food supply was at an “all-time low.” The organization stressed that it is “seeing more families, seniors, and individuals in need than ever before,” and asked the community to help restock its shelves.
Hickox has seen the dwindling stock firsthand, watching packages of chicken and fish go quickly.
(Naomi Cragun | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Cache Community Food Pantry in Logan.
“It’s been an extraordinary year,” said Matt Whitaker, director of the Cache Community Food Pantry. “We’ve had a lot of immigration. And then you add that to the economy — gas, food and rent have all gone up, and middle class wages haven’t gone up to match it. And so I’ve got a lot of people applying for help.”
In September 2022, Whitaker said, the pantry served about 850 families. Last September, that number jumped to about 1,400.
Cache Valley, meanwhile, has one of Utah’s lowest unemployment rates at 3.1%, according to October numbers from the Department of Workforce Services.
Whitaker said he never wants to “cry wolf,” but the pantry needs help.
“I don’t want the community to think, ‘Oh, it’s this guy calling again,’” he said. “I want the public to know, ‘Oh, Matt’s asking. There must be a need.’”
And after his plea for help last month, the community responded with an outpouring of support from organizations wanting to do food drives, fundraisers and more, Whitaker said. Still, he stressed, the pantry continues to need help, especially as Cache Valley experiences rapid growth.
“We’ll take anything, of course, but there are some items — doesn’t matter what time of year — we’re always short on them,” he said. “Baking goods is probably the number one; flour, sugar, chocolate chips, marshmallows, cake mixes.”
Whitaker added that, at this time of the year, the pantry welcomes anything that would support Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. More frozen and refrigerated items can also be accepted now, thanks in part to a new warehouse the pantry added on site last month that allows for expanded storage.
