Good afternoon, everyone – Yesterday we served a total of 18 families, including 32 adults, 21 children and 4 seniors.
While the pantry was going on I was able to hand out a flyer from an organization by the name of whyhunger.org. It was advertising places where children could eat meals for free during the summer. If you texted your zip code to a particular number they came back with places near your zip code where children could eat. In our area there are four schools in Yonkers, a school in Mount Vernon and a school in White Plains. And there’s no residence requirement or income requirement, so any child or adolescent could eat at any of these addresses. It’s important during the summer because many of our clients’ children count on free or reduced-fee lunches in school for a healthy meal. That’s how our pantry got started in the first place, and it’s why donations of food and money to the pantry are especially important during the summer, when food-insecure people count on pantries even more.
We now have our freezer in the kitchen of South Church! Once a month we’ll be adding frozen meats, chicken, fish or whatever else the Food Bank has to offer so that our clients can get that extra protein in addition to shelf-stable sources (tuna, peanut butter, etc.) Thanks again to the Mahoney family for making it possible to us to purchase this freezer. We’ll make good use of it!
Last week I was thanking Tom for picking up 40 pounds of food at the Irvington Library and bringing it to the pantry, but I forgot that Carol had also brought a huge donation of food from Zion Episcopal as well. I’d like to give a shout-out to all of our volunteers who are there week after week on Wednesday mornings, plus everyone is so willing to give of their time and effort at other times during the week as well. This team works like a well-oiled machine, and has for years now.
I got the word that our CSA will be starting June 18 and will run until the fall. We’ll have fresh produce for everyone every week! Plus the Roots & Wings garden, which also has a dedicated team that works hard every year, is coming along as well. My hat is off to everyone who works in the garden.
Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry 