Senior Airman Armanda Jackson, left, and Senior Airman Christina Pruch stand inside their food pantry at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, March 3, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – Airmen with the 18th Wing opened the first food pantry for U.S. service members on Okinawa recently in a nondescript building near the base’s main gate.

The Kadena Food Pantry is available to any service member or Defense Department civilian and their families on the island, as long as they have base access and a common access card, said Senior Airman Christina Pruch, one of two pantry organizers.

“Food insecurity can happen to anyone,” Pruch, of Omaha, Neb., said at the pantry Friday. “Just being available to someone can help them out.”

More than 25% of active-duty service members in recent years reported hardship providing their families enough to eat, or food insecurity, according to a Rand Corp. study released in January.

Of those affected, 67% were early- to mid-career enlisted personnel between the pay grades of E-4 and E-6, the report said. It cited a 2018 Defense Department survey that found 40% of food insecure respondents were Army, 26% were Navy, 18% were Air Force, 14% were Marines and 3% were Coast Guard.

Data specific to service members on Okinawa is not tracked, 18th Wing spokesman Staff Sgt. Juan Torres Chardon told Stars and Stripes in an email Tuesday.

Senior Airman Armanda Jackson, left, and Senior Airman Christina Pruch stand inside their food pantry at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, March 3, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)

Senior Airman Armanda Jackson speaks about the new food pantry at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, March 3, 2023. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)

Many factors contribute to food insecurity, from the demands of a growing family to past debts and the upheaval from marital strife, Pruch said. She and fellow pantry lead Senior Airman Armanda Jackson want people to feel comfortable coming to the pantry. No personal information is required.

“We don’t want someone to feel like they can’t come here because someone is going to find out," said Jackson, of Owensboro, Ky.

Since it opened Jan. 25, the pantry has received more than 3,500 donated items and provided 1,172 of those to over 70 families, Pruch said. Just under half of those patrons are in the Air Force; about 20 percent are Marines.

Chief Master Sgt. Ronnie Woods, 18th Wing command chief, brought the pantry idea to the Airmen Committed to Excellence committee in early 2022, Pruch said. She and Jackson volunteered to take the lead.

In December, they moved into a small room inside Building 9918, across Douglas Boulevard from the wing headquarter’s entrance.

The pantry had only a table to greet customers and several large metal shelves. On Friday, the shelves were stocked with canned goods, and donations were piled in a corner waiting to be processed.

Pruch and Jackson plan to apply after this month to take over the entire building but first must demonstrate a community need.

The pantry is open from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, Jackson said. Patrons are allowed 10 items per visit, although the pantry has two-for-one specials and other offers. Children are allowed five items for themselves during each visit.

The pantry accepts any unopened, unexpired, nonperishable food item, Jackson said. Donations can be dropped off during operating hours and also at the Military and Family Readiness Center, the Kadena Thrift Store, the Schilling Center, the Risner and Habu fitness centers and the McDaniel Center.

The Kadena Food Pantry is available to any service member or Defense Department civilian and their families on the island, as long as they have base access and a common access card. (Frank Andrews/Stars and Stripes)

The commissary also sells “Kadena Cares” bags for $9.99, Pruch said. The prepackaged bags of most-needed items go directly to the pantry.

The pantry mostly needs “kid items,” or things that will fit in a lunchbox, breakfast items, cereals, oatmeal, granola bars, pancake mix and rice. Volunteers are always welcomed, Pruch said.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/kadenafoodpantry.