Food lines: The charity feeds hundreds in Bollinger County every month

~ The need inspired House Speaker Rod Jetton to introduce hunger-fighting bills.

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Jerry and Lorene Canoy from Zalma, Mo. depend on monthly handouts from the Marble Hill food pantry because they need help. But don't mistake this for helplessness. The elderly couple makes the 32-mile round-trip journey not due to a life of indigence, but because chronic medical problems make paying the monthly bills very difficult.

"You look at a lot of people here and they need this help, in fact I don't know what they'd do without it," said Lorene. "We pay our bills, but when you don't have much of an income, a lot of older people end up having to make choices."

And it is the tough choices that explain the mostly elderly hordes who braved the ice-cold rain Tuesday morning to wait for the monthly provisions they've come to depend on.

The plight of Southeast Missouri seniors has caused house speaker and Marble Hill native Rod Jetton to take notice. Jetton recently introduced three bills aiming to help food pantries. Two of the bills would increase state funding to food pantries. The third would provide $2 million in available tax credits for those who donate money to pantries.

Jetton said he first began thinking about the bills after seeing the long lines for the Vogels' pantry at 301 West Main Street.

A major force driving the elderly to food pantries is illness. Jerry has diabetes, high blood pressure, a surgically replaced knee, six screws in his arm, and was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Lorene takes weekly epidermal shots in her knees to relieve swelling.

The two make regular trips to Doctors' Park in Cape Girardeau to see specialists. They said the cost of gas for their car combined with monthly Medicaid bills and co-payments for the their medications are sometimes overwhelming. Recent changes to Medicaid have forced the Canoys to be extra careful with their money.

"We're trying to be even more conscious of our money than we ever have been," said Lorene.

Jerry just began undergoing lupron therapy to treat his prostate cancer. The shots he takes once every three months cost $4,000 each.

A Korean War veteran who worked as a laborer first in a pallet mill and later in a canning factory, Jerry said he is not looking for a handout. In fact he and his wife only take the bare minimum from the pantry. "We don't get a government box, we just take one bag each of the things that's donated," said Jerry drawing a distinction between the boxed provisions supplied by Bootheel Food Bank in Sikeston and locally donated goods. "There's lots of people worse off than we are. If this was ever cut off, we'd still find some way to survive with God's help...I know for one thing, we don't take any of it for granted."

Earl and Donna Vogel

It is stories like these that inspire Earl and Donna Vogel to keep running their food pantry. "I've been pretty lucky to be healthy, but if you can imagine it -- you work all your life, you work hard, and then medical bills come along and wipe away all the money you ever made," said Donna.

Earl and Donna retired in 1994 and bought the warehouse used to store the food in 2002 after seeing the extent of poverty in the area.

"One thousand people get food every month because of them," said longtime volunteer Marge Mouser. "If they weren't here there would be people hungry. For a lot of these elderly people they have to choose between their food and their medicine. This is a county of old people, with a lot of poverty and no industry to speak of, so this really fills a need." Donna said the pantry will serve approximately 450 families this month.

The Vogels and a troop of loyal volunteers keep the pantry running with the aid of federally funded Bootheel Food Bank which delivers boxes of commodities to 16 counties. They also rely on East Missouri Action Agency grants and donations from local people. "One month we'll have $3,000 to work with, and the next month we'll have $300. We never know, but whatever we have we spend," said Earl.

The Vogels use innovative means to get food including an agreement to buy bulk amounts of meat from the Country Mart and a vegetable garden planted by the local 4-H club and weeded by the elderly.

Sometimes individuals make generous donations. On Tuesday the pantry distributed boxes of Girl Scout cookies to every food recipient. The cookies were provided by 8-year-old Cheyenne Binnie who sold 163 boxes by asking those who bought cookies to donate them to the pantry.

The pantry is open on the first and third Tuesday of every month. It distributes the federally funded boxes on the latter date. Recipients get food according to their need.

Donna believes the rural population of Bollinger County gets overlooked when it comes to charitable service. "This county is totally forgotten. In fact, we're totally ignored," she said. "We're only 12,400 people and even if you put us all in one spot we wouldn't make much of a voting block."

Donna said her limited funds have made her have to draw some tough guidelines. "We're not getting enough funds for Bollinger, so if you live in Marquand I will not serve you," she said. "Now that's right on the border, but I have to say tough noogies."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245