Dear Financial Donors,
The lede of this week’s edition of the Food Pantry Newsletter is devoted to those of you who faithfully support our efforts with cash donations rather than food or other necessities. So we thought we’d give you an idea of how we stretch the currency we get.
Our monthly cash burn is roughly equal to the monthly cash donations we receive. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Most of that goes to buying food. For everything else, we buy only what we can’t make ourselves. We are very good at finding cost-efficient ways to maintain safety and efficiency.
With the talented group of volunteers we have, I’ve always marveled at how often one of our volunteers frequently comes up with a relatively simple and low-cost solution to a difficult and potentially costly problem that comes our way.
An example. We use a lot of what’s referred to as beach or camper wagons to help move food donations and deliveries. These carts average about $125 each and we have 10 of them. They have, however, a critical flaw that cannot be fixed – or so we thought. The handles are supposed to lock in an upright position until you pull on them. But due to poor material design the piece that holds the handle in place wears away in time, causing the handle to fall forward unassisted and creating a serious tripping hazard for volunteers and clients.
No sooner had our crazed Minister of Maintenance planned to attack the first of four such afflicted wagons with a die grinder, volunteer Bill Constant realized it wouldn’t work. What would work, Bill said, was simply attaching matching pairs of high-strength Velcro to the two mating parts. Bingo!
So, the winner of this year’s FP Department of Engineering “Rusty Bolt Award” goes to volunteer Bill, who came up with, literally, a $10 solution to a potential $1,250 replacement problem. That’s more donor dollars saved for higher and better use.
Third Annual Stuff-a-Bus
Stop & Shop and Bee Line/Westchester County Gov will be hosting their 3rd Annual Stuff-a-Bus Food Drive for Feeding Westchester. Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry has been paired with our local Stop & Shop, which will hold a collection tote for food donations from November 5th – November 11th.
As readers of this Newsletter already know, Stop & Shop’s manager, Jim, has been a strong – and patient – supporter of the FP, and we are always grateful to him and his staff for their generous assistance.
Donor Spotlight
Valerie and Carmita of Dobbs Ferry Girl Scout Troop 1682 dropped of a considerable haul from their Diaper Drive in support of our littlest clients. The Troop is also involved in planning for the FP’s Thanksgiving event on Nov. 24th.
Our neighbor, Gordon, of the Zion Episcopal Church Hillside Thrift Shop, delivers the goods from Zion’s generous members.
Finally, we find ourselves running short of Fresh Direct bags, one of our most important means of delivering to those clients who cannot reach the pantry due to illness or the need to care for young children at home. We’d be grateful for whatever you can leave for us at the donation box to the left of the South Presbyterian Church annex entrance.
This week’s newsletter written by the crazed Minister of Maintenance himself, Duke Coffey, without whom the church would be a pile of rubble.
Dobbs Ferry Food Pantry 