Good afternoon, everybody – yesterday the volunteers served fewer families than last week. Maybe we’re finally plateauing! This week the volunteers served 121 families (compared to 129 last week), including 255 adults, 168 children and 35 seniors, for a total of 458 people (471 last week). Let’s hope that maybe some people have been called back to work. My hope is that once they go back to work, the people we served will then turn around and make a donation to the pantry to keep things going.
The husband of one of our clients was called back to work at a restaurant, and he sent several pizzas to the volunteers as a thank-you. We’re not sure which restaurant it was, but the pizza was delicious.
Both Ellen Klein and I were at the pantry yesterday for the first time in months. It’s become a completely different operation due to serving so many people and not having access to the church. It was so efficiently run that I was amazed. I was like a stranger in a strange land.
Team Rubicon and the COVID-19 Emergency Food Assistance Program are offering a $500 one-time grant for food and delivery of food to people with certain medical diagnoses. It turns out that several of the pantry’s clients have one of those diagnoses, and we’ve been able to either provide the information so that they themselves can apply or, as I did this afternoon, help them to complete and submit the application. There’s no deadline, but the information says they’ll keep doing it until they run out of money. It seems Bristol-Myers-Squibb gave them a large donation to use to help people with these diagnoses during the pandemic.
The Roots & Wings kitchen garden behind the church is making progress. The gardeners gather regularly to work on their own plots and on the plot designated for the Pantry. Yesterday Marc brought ten little tomato plants to offer to the clients, and all ten were eagerly accepted. There may be more tomato plants next week, and more clients will be able to take them home and begin to grow their own tomatoes!
This coming Wednesday we’ll have another partner for our clients in addition to the prepared food from Harpers/Meritage/OnTheLine and soup and bread from MadeBy RK. Stone Barns will be sending several boxes of food, including produce, for our clients. Stone Barns has been providing food since the beginning of the pandemic to hospitals, clinics and other first responders. Happily, some of the providers no longer need the food, and Stone Barns is beginning to reach out to food pantries and soup kitchens. Our pantry will be happy to partake of their generosity.
Yesterday for the first time the pantry served clients from two separate lines. One line was specifically for seniors or disabled clients, and it started at 9:30. Although it was a new effort, it went very smoothly, and nobody minded that the seniors got to go first. We’ve got a good group of clients, and a good, very hard-working group of volunteers!
Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry 
DO YOU CHECK PEOPLES ACTUAL NYS actual DRIVERS LICENSES
when they register with you—FOR ACCURACY OF THE TOWN THEY living in ?
I see many from other areas – we know they don’t live in greenburgh
We supposed to be in greenburgh and allowed towns only..
Please check to see the Drivers licenses ID
People are such crooks these days
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Greasy Nicks, during the pandemic the Pantry is trying to help as many people as we can. We do ask for proof of residence when people register for the first time, but even if they don’t live in our area they’ll still get a bag of food.
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