February 7, 2019

       The food drive at Stop & Shop this past Saturday was a smashing success, as it has been in years past.  The boys from the football team are friendly and charming, and just about everybody who goes into Stop & Shop is willing to buy a little something for the pantry.  Everything the boys brought is in the upstairs storage room at South Church, and I’ve posted a picture of the amazing amount of food, diapers and other products on Facebook, Twitter and on our website.  And people sent cash, also which we always need.   A hug and kiss to the boys, their parents, and to the shoppers who gave so generously.

       Then on Super Bowl Sunday the Dobbs Ferry Lutheran Church youth group had a soup cook-off to which everybody brought something for the pantry, and everybody paid to taste the various soups.  All of the food and cash were delivered to us by Kristen Arone of DFLC.  Thank you, Kristen, and thank you to everybody at DFLC for keeping the pantry in mind while enjoying their soup.  Special thanks to the church youth group!

       Rob Baron, who has worked for years on making streets safer in the Rivertowns for pedestrians and bikers, has started a campaign to change the route of the Beeline 6 bus to include Cedar and Main Streets in Dobbs Ferry, as it used to be.  A couple of years ago the route was changed so that the bus goes straight along Broadway from Dobbs to Hastings.  This means that people who live downtown in Dobbs Ferry must walk all the way up and down the hill, and must dodge traffic to cross Broadway to catch the bus (the bus company itself had nothing to do with this change).  This is especially hard for senior citizens and mothers with small children.  No one has been hit yet, but before that happens Rob has started a petition drive to convince the Village Board to return the bus to its original route.  I had copies of the petition at the pantry yesterday, and several volunteers and clients signed.  I’ll show it to more clients next week.  If anybody on this list wants to sign, contact me and I’ll see that you get to sign the petition.

       One of our clients, who has come regularly to the pantry for years, also volunteers at another pantry in Yonkers on the first Monday of the month.  She and her husband were horrified to see that the staff at the pantry was prepared to throw out whatever produce they had left at the end of the day.  Instead, she and her husband brought the produce to our pantry, where we gave it out on Wednesday.  They packed as much as they could into our refrigerators, and it was ready to go two days later.  Our clients give as well as receive.