Good afternoon, everybody – yesterday the number of clients served by the pantry climbed even higher. Yesterday 119 families were served, as opposed to last week, when it was 114 and the week before when it was 109. In the old days we used to serve 35-40 families a week. Those 119 families consisted of 243 adults, 173 children and 37 seniors for a total of 453 people served. Every week new people arrive, most of whom live in our area and may be with us for the long term. Even if they go back to work, they may visit us at the evening pantry on the last Wednesday of the month. We’ve temporarily suspended the evening pantry because most people are coming during the day now, but we’ll start it up again as soon as it’s needed.
I must share something that warmed my heart. A woman walked by South Church yesterday morning, saw the volunteers serving the clients and was so touched by it that she went straight home and made a PayPal donation on our website. She just wanted to help! Thanks to everybody who’s donating to us so that we can continue to help people whose backs are against the wall right now.
One of the volunteers yesterday was Liz Dreaper, Dobbs Ferry Village Clerk. She handed out bread to the clients while providing guidance and answering questions anybody had about the 2020 Census (whose deadline has been extended into October, by the way). She was a great help and an important source of information, too. Thank you, Liz! Since the deadline has been extended, maybe Liz can visit a time or two over the summer in case somebody needs information. She was very encouraging, and she’s the type of person who plunges in, so she’ll be helping to feed the clients at the same time.
Yesterday, in addition to a Stop & Shop gift card, the clients took home a bag or box of shelf-stable food from Feeding Westchester plus fresh produce, also provided by Feeding Westchester. They also received bread and yogurt from two anonymous donors, prepared meals from Harper’s/On The Line and soup and bread from MadeByRK. Next week a farmer will be donating some bok choy to the Roots & Wings kitchen garden behind the church, and Marc Taiano says some of the bok choy will be shared with the Pantry. Soon we’ll be receiving herbs and vegetables from the kitchen garden again, plus the CSA starts June 21. So, our clients will have plenty of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables over the summer. If we keep seeing so many families we may have to purchase additional produce, but we’re determined to make sure everybody gets some fresh produce in addition to their shelf-stable foods.
A shout-out to Town Supervisor Paul Feiner for publishing updated information about our Pantry and our need for donations, both edible and monetary. Thank you, Paul!
Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry 