Dignity offered on the side

While those struggling to put food on the table appreciated the service, the distribution process left something to be desired, said Bridget Shaheen, the organization’s executive director.

“We have long regretted that we had no place people could come inside to get their food,’’ Shaheen said. “It was such an affront to people’s dignity that they had to wait outside, no matter what the weather, just so they could feed their families. It always bothered me.’’

All that will change as Lazarus House Ministries prepares to open the new St. Martha’s food pantry in the old Lebanese Club building at 242 Hampshire St., where guests will be treated to an à la carte-style, indoor facility. Being able to choose their own foods from shelves will not only bring back a familiar shopping experience, but help eliminate the shame and embarrassment of waiting out on the street, Shaheen said.

“This is enormous. It’s done so much more to make that program something that speaks to the dignity, that they can come inside to get their food, and for them to be able to shop in the same kind of scenario that we do, in a supermarket,’’ Shaheen said. “I wanted them to feel the shopping experience; the choice experience.’’

Thomas and Christine Tempesta of Methuen got a sneak peek at the new pantry and said they are looking forward to the arrangement. The Tempestas have been struggling to find full-time employment after each of their temporary jobs recently ran out, and they now volunteer at Lazarus House.

When he arrived at St. Martha’s last fall, Thomas Tempesta thought he was there simply to paint doors, but he unexpectedly ended up with emergency food bags that he brought home to his wife, Christine.

“My wife and I were going through some struggles,’’ Thomas said. “So when we came here, we didn’t ask for anything, but Ken [food coordinator Ken Campbell] volunteered some emergency bags to us, and they gave us some tuna fish, macaroni. . . . it was really quite humbling.’’

When Thomas came home with the food, the couple’s refrigerator and the cupboards were virtually empty, Christine said. They’d even run out of dog food for their Rhodesian ridgeback, Daisy, and their pugapoo, Dolly. “It was humbling to me,’’ she said. “I cried.’’

Like the Tempestas, increasing numbers of people who nominally fell into the middle class before the recession are gradually turning to food banks and pantries for assistance.

In Lawrence, a city where about 24 percent of its roughly 70,000 residents fall below the poverty line, and where the unemployment rate is 18 percent, the need for assistance has never been greater, Campbell said.

Between the food pantry, soup kitchen, shelter, and bagged lunches, Campbell estimates that Lazarus House distributes between seven and eight tons of food a week. Food pantry distributions went from about two tons in 2008 to 3 1/2 tons last year, he said.

For the last year or so, at 2:30 p.m. every Wednesday, between 400 and 500 people lined up to pick up food items stacked on pallets outdoors.

In the last three months, as a result of severe rain and flooding, the operation was temporarily moved indoors to the St. Joseph Plains Community Center on Hampshire Street. While waiting in line indoors offers more comfort and privacy, it still doesn’t address the issue of choice, Campbell said.

“They’d put the food on the pallet and [people would] go through it, and the only option they ever had was to say ‘no’ to something if they didn’t want it,’’ Campbell said.

“There was no picking or choosing what food they wanted. It’s what we were distributing at that time, which is the way most food pantries work.’’

The new facility was purchased 2 1/2 years ago and is scheduled for a grand opening sometime in June.

Half of the $400,000 cost was raised by a group that has run the Boston Marathon the last three years on behalf of Lazarus House. The rest came from individual donations, grants, and foundations.

The new pantry’s walk-in refrigerator and freezer is 50 percent bigger than the old one, while the storage area for nonperishables is about 2 1/2 times larger, Shaheen said.

The Lebanese Club donated the industrial kitchen equipment that was already there, giving Lazarus House the opportunity to add food service training to its work preparation program.

The executive chef at a nearby country club also will use the kitchen on Wednesdays to prepare a meal or snack and hand it out to people sitting in the new waiting room to get food from the pantry, Shaheen said.

Currently, people begin lining up at the pantry early in the morning to be there by 10 a.m., when numbers are handed out. They return for the 2:30 p.m. distribution of food, Campbell said.

At the new pantry, people will be able to make their selections any time on Wednesdays, starting at 10 a.m., so that they don’t have to make a second trip.

“They’ll be able to take whatever they want,’’ Campbell said. “If I’m giving out two cans of vegetables, take any two you want. You can take the pasta in a can or you can take the beef stew. You can take the spaghetti sauce or you can get the ingredients to make your own sauce. . . . Choices are very significant — it raises the level of respect and dignity for an individual receiving food versus being given a bag and then going outside and taking a look to see what it is, or getting in line with 300-and-some-odd people and looking over the pallets.’’

For the Tempestas, having a choice is akin to having hope.

“Just to have that luxury, it’s immense to be able to just get a certain pasta or something that the family likes and enjoys,’’ Thomas Tempesta said. “That’s a key thing . . . because they can’t go to a restaurant and have whatever they want, they can’t have lobster. But they can come here and pick from what they have. It’s a big thing.’’

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.