It’s a warm place where customers and volunteers share conversation and kindness. In the back of the building, while volunteers filled bags with soaps, toothpaste, toilet paper and menstrual products, organizers Suzanne Beaumont and Leo Pickens, both local Quakers, talked about the growth they’ve seen in recent years.

They took over Grace Pantry for Maggie and Vance Mortensen in 2021 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and a time of high need. But even since then, the need has grown four-fold. Back then, Pickens said they averaged 16 orders per week. Now, they average 50 orders a week.

Recently, they had a week with 61 orders.

Pickens’ figures show they serve 136 different households a month in the Tri-Lakes area — around 320 people in total.

Grace Pantry volunteer Elle Finocan fills a backpack with bags of dog food at the Grace Pantry inside the Baldwin House on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Beaumont said they’ve had to grow as the need has nearly quadrupled since they started. This is because of increased demand, she said.

“It’s because of inflation,” Beaumont said. “What was fine when we began is not fine anymore.”

The average rate of inflation has been high in recent years — a cumulative inflation of 21.20% since 2020. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator shows that $10 in 2020 has the same buying power as $12.24 today.

Pickens said he works with the pantry because he wants to give back to his community. He sees economic inequality as “rampant” in this country right now and wants to be able to directly help in modest way.

“Being able to have a helpful impact on people’s lives is huge,” Pickens said. “It’s a fulfilling of the spirit of generosity. … It uplifts us all.”

Grace Pantry organizer Suzanne Beaumont, left, and volunteer Elle Finocan fill bags with household essentials at the pantry inside the Baldwin House on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Beaumont lives in Peru, so she has access to a larger array of shops and organizations in the city of Plattsburgh, where she also volunteers at the Plattsburgh Interfaith Food Shelf.

“Service is really important to me. It’s just everything,” Beaumont said.

She loves the connection it brings.

“I really believe in our interconnection,” she said. “And that we’re just not whole unless we have that connection with others and helping each other.”

How it works

From left, Grace Pantry volunteers Dianne Tkach and Elle Finocan, as well as organizer Suzanne Beaumont fill bags with household essentials at the pantry inside the Baldwin House on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Beaumont said their most popular items at Grace Pantry are the most expensive and necessary — namely baby diapers, adult diapers and menstrual products.

Each customer fills out an order sheet with what their family needs. The pantry has dish soap, laundry detergent, vinegar, cleaning sprays, toilet paper, paper towels, menstrual products, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, razors, shampoo, shaving cream, lotion, body wash, soap, baby wipes, diapers, dog food and cat food.

These are all items which aren’t eligible to use food stamps on, but Beaumont said they are all items important for people’s health.

“The government helps you not at all, and with inflation, it’s really hard on folks,” she said.

She said they often get people who tell them that they started earning slightly more money and their state benefits got slashed.

They don’t just get the cheapest items, Beaumont said — they get the right ones. If a baby struggles with diaper rash, they pay for diapers that work better. They don’t ask questions about customers’ finances, she said; they just offer help and community.

“We’re very friendly,” Beaumont said with a grin.

She said they have some immigrants to the U.S. who come every week and she loves to hear their English improving as they settle in to a new home.

Pickens had high praise for Beaumont’s leadership and called her a “dynamo.” Beaumont blushed and said Pickens does great work picking up supply deliveries and organizing the pantry. She also said they couldn’t do anything without the 15 volunteers who get the work done.

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The cost of living

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The cost of inflation hits families, elderly people and the lowest wage earners hardest.

“In the United States, the prices of the cheapest food products climbed 30% between January 2020 and May 2024, outpacing the 22% increase of the fanciest foods,” according to a Harvard report titled “Charting ‘Cheapflation’: How Budget Brands Got So Pricey.”

The New York Times reports that rents are up 25% since 2020, rising faster than mortgage rates on homes purchased before interest rates surged in 2022.

According to the Joint Council for Economic Opportunity of Clinton and Franklin Counties, a living wage for one adult with one child in Franklin County in 2024 is $35.19. This report lists the median income in Franklin County at $43,500 and says that nearly 30% of children here live in poverty.

The international nonprofit organization United Way’s most recent local report on working families who are above the federal poverty line but still struggle to pay for all the necessities of life — what they call Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, or, ALICE — was released in 2022. This was during the midst of an inflation spike, which has slowed but continues to climb ever since.

At that time, the reports found that 27% of Franklin County households were below the ALICE threshold and 30% of Essex County households were below.

According to these reports, Essex County’s median household income was $68,090 and Franklin County’s was $60,270.

The report calculated the bare minimum monthly cost to live and work in the current economy in Essex County for an adult with one child (not in child care) at $3,723. That requires an hourly wage of $22.34.

The report calculated the bare minimum monthly cost to live and work in the current economy in Franklin County for an adult with one child (not in child care) at $3,505. That requires an hourly wage of $21.03.

Dental donation

Grace Pantry volunteer Dianne Tkach sat down in the dentist chair with her orthodontist DJ O’Neill from Family Smiles Dental Care on Church Street last year, shortly after O’Neill purchased the practice.

Between cleanings, she mentioned her work at the pantry and O’Neill said he was interested in contributing. Ever since then, he’s been donating oral health care items to the pantry — sample toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes and denture adhesive.

“I just like to help out,” O’Neill said.

Now, he’s just providing the tools, he said, reminding everyone to brush and floss twice a day — once after breakfast and once before bed.

Oral health is big for quality of life, O’Neill said.

Tkach said good gum health is the first step to good bodily health.

O’Neill said sores or abscesses in the mouth make it hard to eat, abscesses can get into the blood stream and cause heart or brain issues with swelling and that bad oral health contributes to inflammation which can raise blood pressure or blood sugar numbers.

Lots of people skip the brush before bed, he said. They just want to go to sleep. But after eating all day long, there’s carbohydrates and sugars from food on the teeth — felt in that “fuzzy” sensation.

“Get all that off,” O’Neill said.

The bacteria that naturally exists in the mouth eats carbohydrates and sugars. This creates acids, and acids create cavities.

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How to help

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Item donations can be made by dropping them off on the Baldwin House porch at 94 Church St. next to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Pickens said Beaumont prefers if this happens when she’s there on Wednesdays 3 to 5 p.m., because she likes to thank people and put a face to the donation.

Beaumont said people share supplies from all over. School districts donate extra menstrual pads. The national organization Warm Up America donates scarves and hats.

When organizers need supplies, they go to the store and buy them — at the same price as everyone else — with donated money, or their own.

Financial donors to Grace Pantry include the Cloudsplitter Foundation, the Carpenter Foundation, High Peaks Church, Saranac Lake Rotary, Saranac Lake Women’s Civic Chamber, the Saranac Lake Interfaith Food Pantry and the Startich family.

The Grace Pantry is an operation of the Ecumenical Council of Saranac Lake. To donate, send a check to P.O. Box 194, Saranac Lake, NY 12983 with the memo “Grace Pantry.”

To volunteer, just stop by from 3 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays.