Girdwood Food Pantry delivers in Uncertain Times
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
The Girdwood Food Pantry’s volunteers provide meals for area residents facing food insecurity, working to find every corner where someone might be doing without. Food distribution days occur three days per month: the first Sunday and second and fourth Wednesday.
People come from Girdwood, Bird, Indian, Whittier, and occasionally Hope to pick up a box containing a week’s worth of groceries. Hot meals and community are provided every Sunday in partnership with other non-profits. The pantry served about 220 households per month in 2025. Last month, 351 individuals received food assistance.
For people who can’t come to distribution days, volunteers gothe extra mile. Senior or disabled households receive deliveries. Some Alyeska lifties and instructors, who may not be able to get off work on distribution days, receive boxes twice per month. Volunteers even make sure Girdwood school teachers and the school nurse have a stash of healthy snacks at hand. Girdwood Food Pantry Director Terry Sherwood, who is a volunteer, shared it takes six to eight volunteers to orchestrate each food distribution day.
“We expect our numbers to increase and our supply to decrease,” said Sherwood. Federal layoffs impacting the local community are just one of her concerns. The reduction in workforce in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP- what many people know as “food stamps”) could mean longer wait times for people to receive aid they qualify for.
Turnagain Community Services, the non-profit umbrella organization that includes the Girdwood Food Pantry and the Community Garden, fields requests for emergency cash assistance. Sherwood reported an uptick in requests for assistance with rent and utility bills during December, January, and February. The lack of snow during these months provided less work for short-term rental cleaners, food service workers, and others dependent on the visitor industry.
Federal chaos has made the mission more stressful than ever. On March 25, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) paused $500 million in funding from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and cancelled $500 million in funding from the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program. This created distress for Sherwood, who felt compelled to come up with a game plan in case TEFAP food stopped coming.
The pantry receives at least one third, and sometimes up to one half of its food from TEFAP. The food is distributed to local pantries by the Food Bank of Alaska. The USDA has since walked back the funding freeze to TEFAP. Food Bank of Alaska CEO Cara Durr stated via email the Food Bank of Alaska recommends partners continue to distribute food as usual, but added it is important to continue to support the TEFAP program.
The Girdwood Food Pantry receives local support in addition to food from the federal government. Private donations fund approximately $1,500 per month in purchases from Charlie’s Produce and Costco. During the summer, the community garden has a dedicated plot for the pantry. Food is also donated directly through food drives and into a bear box located outside the pantry. Sherwood cited The Merc as a helpful partner as well. Staff make the effort to pull short-dated food before it expires so that it can be donated. They even brought over eggs recently, said Sherwood.
Sherwood shared extra food at the Alaska Food Bank warehouse in Anchorage was once a source of additional food for the Girdwood pantry. However, in recent times “the shelves have been bare.” Additionally, the State of Alaska distributes funds through the Food Pantry Relief Fund (FPRF) fund.
This February, Sherwood travelled to Juneau with members of the Alaska Food Coalition, whose mission statement is:“Through advocacy, research and coalition building, we address the root causes of hunger and work toward long-term, sustainable solutions.”
The group lobbied in support of HB12, which would make free lunches in schools universal, and SB13, which would provide additional electronic benefits for qualifying families during the summer, when school lunches are not being provided.
Coalition members also supported a program that will ship boxed meals directly to rural families during the summer months. This last program, called “Meals to You,” has since been approved for funding by the legislature. It will help children in 30 of Alaska’s rural school districts, although Girdwood is not eligible due to being in the Municipality of Anchorage.
If you need emergency assistance, you can call Turnagain Community Services at (907) 783-0127 or request help through their webpage: turnagainservices.org. The Food Pantry is located at The Girdwood Chapel, the first right off Timberline from Alyeska Highway.