Church founds pantry to help local families

Date: 1/17/2011

Jan. 17, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW — Pastor Rolf Hedberg and several members of his congregation at St. Paul Lutheran Church are doing what they can to fight hunger in their community.

St. Paul Lutheran Church officially opened its new open pantry on Jan. 8 with the intention of lightening the burden on people both in the church and the town of East Longmeadow.

"From our church's point of view, we're always looking for new forms of outreach," Tom Bianco, one of the creators of the open pantry, said. "You only have to pick up a newspaper to know the need that is out there. Our church is blessed with a congregation that is willing to help."

The open pantry has been a long time coming for St. Paul.

"It's been at least a year," Hedberg said. "It has been a slow process. We've being trying to do it in a way that is responsible."

According to Bianco, the coordinators of the project needed to get approval from the congregation, as well as more information on how to properly run an open pantry.

"The congregation had questions they wanted answered and so we did some research," Bianco said. "We visited some other open pantries and food banks and tried to figure out what would work for our church."

"We're not a large church, so we had to figure out what was reasonable for us," added Hedberg.

Once the questions were answered and a plan was in place, things began moving quickly, as the congregation donated all the food for the opening within one month.

While Hedberg and Bianco both acknowledged people are generous around the holidays and then donations tend to deplete during the warmer months, they were confident that they would be able to keep the pantry stocked properly all year round.

"We are of the opinion that we have an abundance of resources for food," Hedberg said. "In addition to the congregation, there are groups, like the Boy Scouts, that use the church and the local businesses have been more than generous,"

"Poverty knows no season," Bianco added. "People need to know there has to be an ongoing response to that, not only when people are feeling the tug on the heartstrings during the holidays."

The pantry will be open for those in need to get foodstuffs on the second Saturday of every month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

All food will be distributed based on need. In order to use the pantry, interested parties must fill out a 1040 Federal income tax form. Those with SSI, SSDI or Social Security must provide official notification. Those who receive food stamps must also provide official documentation.

For more information, contact the church office at 525-6084.