By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
Michael Sigwalt
“What a great community to be part of!” were the words from Michael Sigwalt, director of the Geneseo-Atkinson Food Pantry, when asked how the current food shortage crisis and government shutdown has affected the pantry.
Sigwalt added, “Geneseo is generous.”
The GAFP served a record number of families in October of this year, (501 families in total), which Sigwalt said is a 17.6 percent increase over the previous record of 426 families, which was reached in Sept. 2025, and Sigwalt said the community stepped up to meet the increased need.
“The 501 families served also is a 57.5 percent increase over the number of families served in October of 2024, which was 318.
“For all of fiscal year 2025, we’ve served an average of 371 families per month, which is a 60 percent increase over the families served in fiscal year 2024, which was 233.
The included chart shows the progression of families served at the pantry since August of 2021.
Sigwalt commented, “In response to the national news concerning Federal actions, or inactions, the people of the City of Geneseo have responded so incredibly favorably. Because of their amazing generosity, we have not had our pantry shelves lacking of food!”
Keeping the shelves stocked has also been the result of the pantry staff seeking new food sources and Sigwalt added, “We most certainly have been very busy exploring as many new food sources as possible.”
He listed the sources:
-Greater utilization of River Bend Food Bank and Midwest Food Bank resources.
-An increase in purchased inventories.
-Fabulous food drives throughout the community!
-Incredible support form our area food retailers!
“Because of the community’s incredible support, we have been able to provide some of our Thanksgiving food items for our guests, such as canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, corn bread mix, stuffing mix, and mashed potatoes.”
The Thanksgiving food items did not include meat this year and Sigwalt said the reason being there were too many families and rising meat costs, and he added, ”Of course, if anyone would like to donate a ham or turkey, we would make it available for our friends,”
Sigwalt answered my question of how the Geneseo -Atkinson Food Pantry been impacted by news reports with: ‘Yes, GAFP has most definitely been impacted by all the reports we’ve all heard in the news! But the community’s response has been so phenomenal that we’ve been able to still provide needed for families in need.”
He added that he does not know what to expect now that the government has opened – “We didn’t’ know what to expect when it was shut down! But I’m certain, no matter what the current crisis might be, the citizens of Geneseo will help us help our neighbors!”
IN LOOKING AHEAD TO CHRISTMAS
“For Christmas, we’ll be doing something very similar to Thanksgiving, including many of the same items,” Sigwalt said.
Those items include pumpkin pie filling, cranberry sauce, corn, green beans, crispy fried onions, cream of mushroom soup, corn bread mix, pie crust mix, sweet potatoes/yams, dried mashed potatoes, aluminum roasting pan.
Donations of any of those items would be helpful and Sigwalt said the pantry is “always in need of cereal (hot or cold), baking items (mixes, flour, oils, sugar, etc.), condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise), canned meats (tuna, chicken, etc.); Hygiene, cleaning and paper products, (napkins, paper towels, wax paper, cling wrap, etc.) always are welcome. We go through those quickly and our guests cannot purchase them with their SNAP benefits.”