Upbringing shapes North Liberty pantry director

NORTH LIBERTY - Tina DuBois's voice is matter of fact when she talks about her childhood. She'll tell you about the Christmas she and her sister got coloring books and a table her father made from a door, or how she knew it was a bad year when she and her siblings didn't get socks and underwear for the holidays.

She doesn't hide that she and her sister begged their mother to put them on their school's free and reduced lunch program or that she had to ask for permission to get a $4 pair of canvas shoes to replace the ones that had fallen apart.

If she's bitter that she had so little when some others may have had so much, it never shows. Instead, DuBois's voice is full of determination and it's clear those memories fuel her current passion - making food and resources accessible to the families of North Liberty through her role as the executive director of the North Liberty Community Pantry.

'I think people should understand that the experience itself isn't the hard part,” DuBois said. 'It's the judgment of others that is the hard part.”

Born and raised just outside of Bloomingdale, Mich., DuBois, 38, said there were times that were worse growing up and times that were better, but 'there was never a time we had a whole lot.”

Both her parents worked. Her mother was a secretary and her father sold insurance and worked in construction. Neither was paid very well.

Her grandparents helped the family out by providing produce from their farm.

After graduating high school, DuBois went to Cornell College in Mount Vernon, where she double-majored in psychology and elementary education. While still in college, DuBois obtained an internship at the Cedar Rapids-based Tanager Place - which offers programs and resources to children and family - and was hired on upon graduating from Cornell in 1999.

Two years later, with Tanager's assistance, DuBois began taking courses at the University of Iowa, where she pursued a master's in social work while working full-time. It was during that time DuBois went to the North Liberty pantry in 2004.

'I wanted to do something different,” she said. 'This opportunity came up. It was such a good place.”

Started in 1985 by First United Methodist Church, the pantry originally was run from a closet and served 15 to 20 families in need. In 2013 - the year DuBois was hired on as its director - the pantry donated 240,000 pounds of food.

In DuBois, the pantry has a director with the necessary social work background, but also a passion for helping the impoverished and someone with a deep understanding of the struggles the pantry clients are facing.

'What I appreciate about Tina is she gets this,” said Alecia Williams, the pastor at First United Methodist Church. 'She understands it at a very deep level. It's part of what shaped her into the person she is.”

It also shapes the way DuBois runs the pantry. While many pantries will simply hand clients a bag of food, at the North Liberty Community Pantry, clients go 'shopping.”

'It's more respectful,” DuBois said. 'They get a cart and they can choose their own food.”

DuBois is also mindful of how the food is presented. Healthy items such as vegetables are kept at eye level to promote selection, and the shelves always are fully stocked.

'An empty shelf causes anxiety,” she said. 'We're continually restocking them. We don't want to feed into that idea of scarcity.”

DuBois says that '99 percent” of the pantry's clients are elderly, disabled, children and the working poor. Some families only require short-term help - for others, the need is ongoing.

According to the pantry's 2005 report, 288 families were served that year. By 2012, the number of families had increased to 485.

Furthermore, DuBois said the average number of annual visits increased from eight visits per family in 2008 to 13 visits per year in 2013.

'The need is increasing,” she said. 'In real dollars, people are making less money.”

Greg Dils, chairman of the pantry's board of directors, said the pantry faces challenges, as well. Among them are educating the public on the issues of poverty and food scarcity to ensure continuing financial support.

The pantry's 2014 budget is $140,000. The church provides $12,000 and the United Way of Johnson and Washington Counties supports the pantry with $20,000. The remainder comes from grants, fundraisers, businesses and individuals.

There's also an educational component for the pantry's clients, Dils said. The pantry tries to guide clients on spending their money wisely so it goes further, as well as teach them how to make meals out of available items. Plans for the pantry's new Gardening for Health Project includes a 9,600-square-foot garden to provide produce and serve as a teaching tool for clients and the community to demonstrate the value of growing your own food.

DuBois admits that her childhood still shapes her decisions today. Her children typically don't get new clothing and she's a fan of resale stores. She rarely buys anything for herself that isn't on sale or a 'really good deal.”

That goes for food, too. She jokes that when she, her husband, Paul, and two children were moving to rural Linn County, she refused to buy any new non-perishable food until her supply was exhausted. That supply lasted for three months.

'Three months is more normal store of food, apparently,” she said with a laugh.

Despite the stability in her life now, DuBois said the issue of scarcity still lingers in her mind.

'There's only so much in the world. How do we value the limited resources we have and how do we use them well?” she said.

'I think that part is a good thing. I think people who have never been without think there will always be more. It's not the case. ...

There is only so much of whatever you're looking for.”