NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) — A controversial decision to close the food pantry at the Floyd County Public Library is on pause for now.
More than 100 people showed up to the monthly board meeting in southern Indiana Monday to share their concerns with the decision. The board decided to pause the closure at that meeting and create a committee to try to find a new home for the pantry.
This all started during a board meeting back in July 2025 when members discussed complaints about homeless people loitering in the library, and if that and the food pantry were two separate issues or not.
The library board voted unanimously to close the pantry back in December of 2025, but the decision didn't start getting major pushback until last month.
In May, when asked whether closure had to do with keeping homeless people out, library officials only said the closure was due to ongoing discussions about whether the pantry fits within the library's core mission and services.
"We thought we had something working, we had a great resource there at the library downtown," said Culbertson Baptist Church pastor Danny Russell, who has worked with organizations against the closure of the pantry.
While the pause on the closure provides temporary relief, many people in the community are wondering what's next.
"We're thankful that they put a pause on it, but we still have the underlying problem of what's the next step? It seems like the pause is just pausing it, it's not like they changed their decision," Russell said.
Hope Southern Indiana is another food pantry in New Albany. Officials there said they've seen an influx of people recently and need help from other pantries in Floyd County so they can keep up with resources.
Russell said one of the issues is that the library already cut ties with the United States Department of Agriculture, meaning whichever organization takes over the pantry will have to find ways to fund it.
"Not one person can create the funding to happen on a long-term basis, but we know it's a need in our community so we're struggling to figure that out," said Russell.
Russell said he hopes this doesn't get brushed to the side.
"Two months from now when we're distracted by something else are we going to remember that there's still hungry people in our community looking for food?" he added.
The president and vice president of the Floyd County Library board did not respond to requests for comment.
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