Good afternoon, everybody – October 28 was the last Wednesday of the month, so we offered Stop & Shop gift cards as well as food. We ended up serving 136 families, as opposed to the 96 we had served the week before. Of those 136, we served a record 23 families that evening. In total we served 272 adults, 186 children and 50 seniors, which brought us to 508 people served. On the last Wednesday in September we served 132 families, so we’ve grown throughout the month. In October we averaged 106 families and 393 people per week. As I’ve mentioned before, in November and December we’ll be giving Stop & Shop gift cards twice instead of once, so keep those donations coming. We exist only because of the donations made by the people on this list and in the community. Thanks to all of you.
In addition to monetary donations, I was contacted by Heather Rhyu, owner of Club Pilates in Ardsley, Scarsdale and Quaker Ridge, who will be organizing a food drive for us among her members. These food drives mean a lot to us, and more and more groups are learning to check the food they donate to make sure it hasn’t expired. That makes our job so much easier.
Ardsley United Methodist has continued with their food drives on certain Saturday mornings. They just did one for us on Halloween, and their next one is November 14 from 10:00 to 1:00, so you can always drop off your donations with them. Ongoing thanks to Ken Stahn, who faithfully comes to the church with his car packed with bags and boxes of food for us.
We’re back to providing prepared meals to our clients thanks to a grant obtained by Michelle Adams of On The Line. This past Wednesday it was from Go Su in Irvington and last week it was from River City Grille, also in Irvington. We’ll have several more weeks of prepared meals thanks to the hard work of Michelle in arranging for the grant and to the staff of the restaurants, who work diligently to prepare and package these meals for our clients.
Does everybody on this list know that there’s a garden at Springhurst School in Dobbs Ferry? The children help with planting, cultivating and harvesting the vegetables and herbs. On October 28 Sara Sellitti, a Springhurst parent, showed up with a basket full of beautiful produce from the garden, and she ended up staying to help with the pantry. We need all the extra produce we can get because we’ve had to say goodbye for the season to Fable Farm, our beloved CSA (community-supported agriculture). The Roots and Wings garden behind the church is pretty much finished with its yield also, which means we must purchase produce to our clients. They love the fresh fruits and vegetables, and we are determined to offer it every week, even though it’s expensive to do so.
I want to mention an important new group that’s forming in Dobbs Ferry – it’s called Dobbs Ferry for Social Justice, and its aim is to provide equality for everyone in the Rivertowns. I mention them because one of the things the group wants to do is to support the pantry. Marissa O’Hare is one of the founders of the group, and they’re looking into doing a food drive for us at Stop & Shop over the holidays. They’re aiming for early December, so keep an eye out so that you can do your shopping at Stop & Shop and pick up something extra for the pantry. A big thank-you to Marissa and all the members of Dobbs Ferry for Social Justice!
Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry 