Marines and their families struggling with food insecurity can shop expanded food pantry ...Middle East

Navy Corpsman Jude Njofang picked out fresh broccoli and cauliflower with plans to make a cabbage soup.

Then, his eyes turned to a box of cornflakes he knew his young son would enjoy. He also found ingredients for his special peanut soup and some canned corn and beans to make tacos.

Marine Col. Kwabena Gyimah, left, hugs Corp. Jacquelyn Hernandez, who spoke to a community group about the importance of the expanded Pendleton Pantry on..Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The new Pendleton Pantry helps supplement groceries for active duty Navy and Marine personal. The mini market provides fresh produce, canned and boxed goods, and refrigerated foods. It also provides diapers, children’s books and cleaning supplies. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Volunteer Marion New, left, assists Navy E4 Julie Ayala at the expanded Pendleton Pantry on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Ayala says the supplemental food is helpful to her family and it also introduces her two children to new foods she may not have bought. She recently made a black bean pie crust, she said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Volunteer Marion New, left, assists Navy E4 Julie Ayala at the expanded Pendleton Pantry on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Ayala says the supplemental food is helpful to her family and it also introduces her two children to new foods she may not have bought. She recently made a black bean pie crust, she said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Samantha Holt, executive director, Armed Services YMCA Camp Pendleton, left, embraces Marine Cpl. Jacquelyn Hernandez on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Hernandez spoke tearfully to a community group about how the expanded Pendleton Pantry has helped feed her family of four children.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Volunteer Gale New, left, assists Navy corpsman Jude Njofang in picking out fresh produce, while Njofag grocery shops for his family at the expanded Pendleton Pantry at Camp Pendleton on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Marine Col. Kwabena Gyimah, left, hugs Corp. Jacquelyn Hernandez, who spoke to a community group about the importance of the expanded Pendleton Pantry on..Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

“This helps me with a major chuck of my household expenditures,” Njfang said on Wednesday, Feb. 12, as he walked through a renovated food pantry that has opened outside the Armed Forces YMCA on Camp Pendelton. “I would be very challenged if I didn’t have this. I’m already on a fixed budget.”

Njfang was one of about 20 people, either active-duty or family of servicemembers, who braved the rain to check out the first day of the newly expanded “Pendleton Pantry.”

Njfang has served in the U.S. Navy for seven years. He and his family moved from Texas to Camp Pendleton three years ago. The move to Southern California was exciting, but he said the higher prices for their daily needs was shocking.

He said his wife works on the weekends when he can be home with his son, but her income isn’t enough to help them cover the daily costs. She can’t work during the week because childcare costs are too high, and waiting lists to get childcare on the base are at least a year long.

Food insecurity and childcare are among the top issues identified in the Blue Star Families’ annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey, which looks at the greatest needs military families have. Both are part of the YMCA’s mission to provide programs and services for single and married active-duty personnel on base.

With a donation from former Chargers placekicker Rolf Benirschke and his legacy foundation, which helps local community groups in San Diego County, the YMCA, which has served Marines and sailors for 80 years at Camp Pendleton, now has a way to help the troops make ends meet.

The pantry is open twice weekly, and people can return to get food every two weeks. There is also a food and diaper distribution once a month.

Benirschke was on hand for the unveiling and spoke about the importance of making the public aware of the plights of servicemembers.

“We live close by, but if you’re not involved with the military, you don’t know what’s going on,” he said, becoming tearful as he hugged a young corporal, a single mom with four children younger than 3, who is among assisted by the YMCA.

“We learned about the challenges that the military faces that we are blind to,” he added. “It’s humbling and emotional for us.”

When the pantry opened in 2022 with a donation of food from the San Diego Food Bank, the YMCA served 65 families. That number jumped to 2,836 families in 2024.

Executive Director Samantha Holt, whose husband served in the Marines for 22 years, said she sees the numbers still increasing – in January 2024, 158 families came in for assistance, this January, that number was 261.

“Families move from all over,” Holt said. “When they move, spouses are underemployed, and then with no childcare, you become food insecure.”

While families have base housing, many struggle with the day-to-day cost of living here. In some cases, Holt said, they are sending money back home to help support others in their families.

Marine Col. Kwabena Gyimah, commander of the Headquarters and Support Battalion on base, said while junior Marines live in barracks and have the chow hall to count on, difficulties arise once “they gain a family and it’s hard to know what to expect.”

“They often can’t fathom what the cost of groceries and services will be,” he said, adding, “The pay they’re getting is not keeping up with inflation.

“Military pay is set every year and housing pay is set every few years,” Gyiman said. “There is not enough housing to house everyone on base and plenty succumb to the cost of inflation.”

“For us, this is vital,” he said of the YMCA program. “It’s not the end of the world that you’re struggling; this becomes part of our resilience plan.”

In addition to the food services, the YMCA also provides childcare services, helps with financial aid and is a source of employment for spouses of active-duty servicemembers. At Camp Pendleton, 36 of 43 employees of the YMCA are military spouses or veterans, Holt said.

In addition to the Camp Pendleton facility, the nonprofit has locations at the Marine base in Twentynine Palms and near the Navy base in San Diego.

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Each week, Lisi Carranza takes a truck to the San Diego Food Bank to stock up. She also coordinates a team of volunteers to fill the shelves and make the pantry a fun shopping experience. And, she knows firsthand what it’s like to be food insecure.

As the spouse of a Marine serving in the base’s security battalion, she empathizes with those who need support.

When she first came to Camp Pendleton in 2021 from Texas, she said a glitch in her husband’s pay left them with only $34 for a month.

“We honestly didn’t know what we were going to eat,” she said, recalling what it was like and having to consider calling her parents for help. “I remembered seeing a food truck. They took me through it, and I was given an entire chicken, potatoes, vegetables, canned goods and just fresh produce. That chicken lasted us three days.”

And, during that visit, she was also handed a flier about a job opportunity the group had. She got hired that day as the YMCA’s office manager; now, she’s the group’s director of services.

“I was very lucky that the first place I went for help,” she said, “was also a way to start a career.”

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