While unemployment remains low in Tooele County, Valley Behavioral Health’s Tooele Resource Center and Food Bank are still seeing plenty of customers.
Kathy Cordova, shelf stocker and order filler at the food bank, was looking at bare shelves Wednesday afternoon.
The shelves held gallon jars of coleslaw dressing, cans of green beans, some crackers, dried pasta and assorted candies that Cordova uses to make up food boxes for 30 families the food bank sees on an average day.
“After the holidays, donations slow down and the shelves get a little bare,” Cordova said. “But this year is really unusual, like we usually have lots of canned fruit and cereal and our fruit and cereal is almost gone. We’re low on everything.”
But nobody goes away hungry, according to Cordova.
“We do have bread and lunch meat,” she said.
Cordova said she doesn’t see the same people picking up food, but instead many of the families come in once or twice when they are short on cash for food and need a little help to make it to the end of the month.
“We had one man in the other day. He has a 16-year old son that lives with him,” Cordova said. “He is eligible for disability benefits and has applied for them, but he won’t start getting the benefits for a few more weeks. He needed some food to hold him and his son over until the benefits kick in.”
Unexpected medical bills or a higher than usual heating bill can sometimes force people to sacrifice buying food to pay their bills, she said.
“Some people that live here don’t see it, but we do have a poor community here in Tooele,” Cordova said. “Yes, we have some jobs, but sometimes the jobs are inaccessible to people that need them.”
People that are homeless or couch surfing may not have access to a computer and many job openings and applications now require a computer, according to Cordova.
Couch surfing is term for homeless people who stay with a friend or relative, sleeping on the couch or in a spare bed. When circumstances change, or they wear out their welcome, they find a new friend to stay with.
But getting a job isn’t the only challenge for homeless people, according to Cordova.
“Once they get a job, they have to have a way to get to the job,” she said. “Public transportation in Tooele County is not very good, and if they have car, they need money for gas.”
The first person who many people see when they come to the resource center for help is team leader Ivette Trujillo.
“People come in and they will usually start with something like ‘I just need a little food,’” Trujillo said. “And we help them with that, but if we can get them talking, we can soon find out what they really need.”
The need for food is sometimes a symptom of something else, like needing help with a job search, finding a place to live that’s affordable, job training, budgeting skills, or something else, she said.
“We try to find out what their real needs are and then if it isn’t something we can help them with here, we can refer them to where they can get help,” Cordova said.
The resource center has limited funds to help with what is called “rapid rehousing.” With rapid rehousing funds, Cordova can help pay the deposit and part of a first month’s rent.
“That gives people time to get on their feet and they start paying their own rent after that,” Trujillo said.
If they need more help than with housing, the resource center has an employee who can help people through the application for Shelter Plus Care, a program that combines housing support with services for physical, mental or emotional impairments.
In the last quarter of 2016, the resource center helped an average of 20 new families per month.
In addition to helping with housing, the resource center has emergency sack lunches and personal hygiene kits, donated and assembled by local church groups.
Valley Behavioral Health funds the resource center through grants and donations.
Check donations made payable to Valley Behavioral Health Tooele Resource Center stay in Tooele County to support the mission of the resource center.
The resource center’s goal is to provide temporary assistance to help people become independent again, according to Trujillo.
“We love the people that we help,” she said. “But if we are successful, we won’t see them again.”
The Tooele County Resource Center and Food Bank are located at 38 S. Main Street in Tooele City.