It’s time for Page Two: News that might not make the front page for Wednesday January 14, 2026.
You might think running a food pantry is simple. A customer walks into a building and walks out with canned goods, produce, rice and beans, perhaps some meat.
A lot of things happen to make that work. A thousand puzzle pieces come together. You must have a building. With shelves. Someone must donate the food. The food needs to be sorted and stored. The meat must be refrigerated. A client must come, feel safe, and ask for what she needs.
In Palmer, that person with a thousand puzzle pieces is Jennifer Brandt, Executive Director of Palmer Emergency Food and Community Services. We all know it as the Palmer Food Bank. Jennifer will tell you, technically it’s a food pantry, not a food bank.
The pantry has served people with food insecurity for over 30 years in the tiny red building on South Valley Way. It serves mostly Palmer and Wasilla residents. People do come from as far away as Trapper Creek. Some customers are unhoused. Many need food assistance even though they have homes and jobs.
Some people turned to the food bank recently. They lost heating assistance. What they would spend on food now goes to heating bills.
Jennifer treats all customers with respect. It doesn’t matter where they are from. It doesn’t matter the reason for their need.
Some needs are sensitive. People need a safe space to ask for things like adult diapers or feminine products.
Some apologize for being hungry. That makes Jennifer sad. No one has to “apologize for their circumstances,” she says.
The current tiny building measures less than 1,700 square feet. They serve one client from one household at a time. People wait at the door or in their car until called in to “shop” at a small table. Volunteers retrieve food for them in the crowded space.
Imagine waiting in a Iine of 10 cars for your food. At 15 minutes per shopper, that can be a two hour wait to shop.
People donating food squeeze in through the same door. They must take care to not knock anything over in the process.
Hopefully, all that changes in February. A new 53,000square foot building will open a few blocks away on Arctic Avenue.
The new building is impressive.
The shopping area itself is as large as the current building. Multiple customers will be able to shop with carts at the same time. There’s a waiting area with seating. A shelf houses a cookbook library. A large, empty room awaits the walk-in freezer and the walk-in cooler.
The new building will receive food by the truckload through two bay doors in back. This food comes from the Alaska Food Bank, the federal government, and other large donors. A smaller door receives donations from individuals.
A grant from the Alaska Legislature funded the building. The land was purchased with donated funds.
Jennifer hopes to open the new building in early February. Delays are typical in Alaska. The original goal was last November. She’s still not sure when the walk-in freezer and cooler will arrive.
Meanwhile, hundreds of other details await. She’s not sure the shelves are strong enough. She’s looking for chairs for the waiting area. And she’s trying to source a special pallet mover with a scale.
Jennifer plans to take on new projects when those puzzle-pieces find their home. She’s working with the local Catholic Church and the Alaska Food Bank for a program to reach housebound people with food insecurity.
For a little while longer, customers will wait in the line of cars on South Valley Way.
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This Page Two article was written by David Cheezem and read by Lee Henrikson.
If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Wednesday January 14, 2026.
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