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Date: 11/9/2022
SOUTHWICK – Our Community Food Pantry is seeking donations of funds to help pay for the rising cost of food as the number of weekly clients they serve begins to increase sharply.
The pantry recently sent out a mailer requesting donations, in part due to the rising costs of food and higher demand that has come to the food pantry. Our Community Food Pantry Operations Manager Sally Munson said the agency, which serves residents of Southwick, Granville and Tolland, has already seen 20 percent more clients than this time last year, and she expects that rate could increase as winter weather approaches.
Munson said monetary donations are preferred because the pantry can buy food in bulk and serve more clients, though donations of food are also accepted.
“We are heading into our busiest time of year where people with food insecurity feel extra vulnerable,” said Munson.
She said the pantry currently serves approximately 60 families a week. Surprisingly, it had fewer clients during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, because of how many other food and financial services were being offered to people in need at the time. Now that most of those benefits are gone, more people face food insecurity than before the pandemic.
Our Community Food Pantry recently began offering its services through the food delivery app Doordash for people within 10 miles of the pantry, covering Southwick and parts of Granville, which Munson said has been popular with older clients and those with mobility issues.
The pantry at 220 College Hwy. is open for distribution of food Mondays 3-5 p.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10 a.m. to noon, and Thursdays 5-6 p.m., excluding major holidays.
Munson said the pantry altered its hours so that clients do not feel the need to all arrive as soon as the pantry is open, which often led to long lines.
She said pantry staff make a point when they give a client a food bag to make sure that the food items they give go well together. For example, she said, they will give someone the ingredients to make pizza dough as well as cheese and pizza sauce and any toppings they want, if they have those ingredients all available.
The pantry also serves clients Thanksgiving meals. Each year it receives donations of turkeys from the Southwick Community Episcopal Church, and Munson said there are 125 turkeys committed. Clients can sign up ahead of time to receive a turkey and a Thanksgiving bag, and drive-through pickup takes place Nov. 21 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.