(I was given this assignment Friday afternoon, Oct. 24. I instantly thought of questions, contacted Circle of Concern the next day for the interview, a call for photos, then did my note transcribing. I wrote the article on Oct. 26. It appeared online the next day for West Newsmagazine!)
Back in March 1967, Circle of Concern was
born into what was still considered an emerging swath of West St. Louis County.
Just like that region itself, what was
formerly known as a food pantry has also grown exponentially over the past six
decades into a prime social services agency. Circle of Concern has become more
like a vastly-enlarged, three-dimensional sphere.
“It started with a group of church leaders
who decided they wanted to help people in need,” Communications and Development
Manager Tim Elwell said. “Since then, we’ve been providing a lot more services
in our area trying to make a big difference in people’s lives.”
The organization serves those in need in the
Parkway, Rockwood, Kirkwood, and Valley Park school districts as well as
residents in the 63026 and 63049 zip codes. (https://www.circleofconcern.org/contact/)
“We live in an area that just keeps growing
with new developments happening all the time whether subdivisions or businesses
going up. A lot of people think that out this way, you don’t need much need for
a food pantry, but in reality, there’s a lot of people struggling who need
assistance and those resources just to get by. It’s unfortunate that we’ve seen
an increase in the number of people who have come to see us, but we’ve
definitely found a way to serve them and be able to offer assistance.”
Circle of Concern used to merely pack paper
bags and get things to people as they needed. But over time, they learned to
fine-tune their service. They were able to add a client choice model for which they
could give the clients the opportunity to pick what they need, and there’s no
waste involved because they’re actually going to be eating those products.
“One of those ways of giving some dignity
back to our clients is that we are a client choice food pantry which means we
have our clients come through and shop just like they would at a normal grocery
store, and they’re able to pick things off the shelves, review the ingredients,
look at the produce, see if they like it to actually be able to use a lot of
that stuff.”
Elwell added that the organization gets a
great deal of help from more than 200 volunteers from all age groups 18 and
older who work on a daily basis. They stock shelves, unload boxes into the
warehouse, meet with and shop with clients.
Although the organization’s mission is not
associated with any individual church or specific religious organization,
Elwell emphasized Circle of Concern’s strong partnership with area churches Fellowship
of Wildwood, Living Word, Parkway United Church of Christ, St. John United
Church of Christ, Trinity Lutheran, and Bethel United Methodist. They help
assemble and donate items.
“Since we’ve been around that long, we’ve
learned to be able to help our clients—people in need—with the thought of doing
that the best we can. Our motto is ‘Feeding Families is Just the Beginning.’
So, the food pantries are our core program, but we’ve learned to offer other
things like children’s programs, holiday programs, summer camp opportunities,
back-to-school campaigns. So, we’ve really expanded to offer outside the food
pantries, ways to help clients.”
A terrific recent example was Circle of
Concern’s Harvest
Moon Trivia Night, held on October 10. They raised their greatest amount on
record--$23,000, with all proceeds earmarked to directly benefit their pantry
and client programs.
Just 10 days later, the organization embarked
on yet another major event. It’s their Thanksgiving Box program that comes from
the idea of sitting around the table and having a traditional American
Thanksgiving meal.
“What we decided to do was have some of our
church partners help us with this because they wanted to make sure that a lot
of our clients had a Thanksgiving meal. Our church partners help assemble and
distribute boxes of seasonal foods that includes canned pumpkin, cranberry
sauce, vegetable broth, instant mashed potatoes and stuff like that. It gives
our clients a chance to gather with family and have an extra meal on us. In
addition to all that, we also offer a $30 Aldi gift card to them to pick up
anything else that they need during that holiday time. This year, that
Thanksgiving program runs approximately from October 20 to November 17 or so.”
That
said, donations are still much needed over the next couple weeks so clients
have the items ready to bake for their family events. Per the Circle of Concern
website, those items include ‘flour, sugar, vegetable oil, shortening, baking
soda, baking powder, vanilla extract (and almond or mint), chocolate chips,
cinnamon and baking mixes.’
Items can
be taken to Circle of Concern’s warehouse at 112 St. Louis Avenue in Valley
Park during these days and hours: Monday 9am-3pm, Tuesday 9am-3pm, Wednesday
9am-6:30pm, Thursday 9am-noon, Friday 9am-3pm, and Saturday 9am-1pm. Their
phone number is 636-861-2623.
“When clients arrive here, they do need to be
eligible. Some requirements are you need to live in our service area and make a
certain financial amount to qualify with the federal poverty level. We offer
200% of the federal poverty levels. (https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/dd73d4f00d8a819d10b2fdb70d254f7b/detailed-guidelines-2025.pdf)
Once they come here, they’re able to meet with our case worker, talk about
their situation, see what we can do, then they head over to the pantry. That’s
where they would pick up their Thanksgiving Box along with their gift card.
Then, they would walk through our pantry, get that full load of groceries, and
be able to go on their way.
“We never want to turn anyone away. So, if
someone comes to us and they’re in need, we do offer one-time assistance, and
they’re able to get some groceries from us to at least have something to go
away with. We also serve the unhoused population. We want to be able to offer
them some items as well. If someone comes to us with that need, we’re able to
fill that gap, too.”
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