Good afternoon, everybody – yesterday in the morning we served 18 families, including 41 adults, 27 children and 8 seniors. Then in the evening we serve 7 more families with 15 adults, 12 children and 3 seniors, for a total of 25 families, including 56 adults, 39 children and 11 seniors. We served 106 people yesterday. We averaged 34 families a week in December, and 130 people a week. In 2018 we averaged 30 families a week, and it was the same in 2017. This past year we were closed three times due to bad weather, and we were also closed on July 4.
Nora, our newest volunteer, followed through and went to Greenburgh Town Hall to check the food-donation bin. The bin was overflowing with donations, including baskets of goodies. She brought it all back to us in her truck, and she’ll continue checking the bins for us on a regular basis. I had warned her to check expiration dates, and she ended up getting rid of several items that had expired long ago, including something that had expired in 2004. If items have expired only a few months before, we’ll put them into our miscellaneous box and allow the clients to look through them. Some clients are more sensitive about expiration dates than others, but Feeding Westchester doesn’t approve of having expired foods on our shelves.
Dr. Nitin Gupta, Dobbs Ferry’s newest pediatrician, dropped in with some toys to give away as gifts. Clients were allowed to choose one gift, and we still have some for next week. Thank you so much, Dr. Gupta, and we’re glad to have you in Dobbs Ferry.
Dr. Gupta’s mother-in-law was with him, and offered to work with us at the pantry on Wednesdays. She’ll be with us next Wednesday, and we’ll put her to work.
The Ardsley United Methodist Women had given us a gift of Stop & Shop gift cards for our clients. We gave them out to our evening clients last night. Thank you so much, AUMC, both the church itself and the Women’s Association. What would we do without our beloved churches, who carry us and support us throughout the year.
Hope everybody is enjoying the holidays, isn’t too exhausted, and has a great New Year’s. See you next year.
Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry 