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Date: 8/25/2016
EAST LONGMEADOW – Food supplies are low at the Emergency Food Pantry and the town’s Council On Aging (COA) is seeking donations to help individuals in need.
COA Executive Director Carolyn Brennan told Reminder Publications the most difficult times of year for the food pantry are during the early spring and late summer.
“We’re in the middle of that right now,” she noted. “So we are definitely low on items.”
Brennan said she believes there’s a misconception that the pantry’s supplies are low during colder months, but most donations are brought in around that time of year.
Last summer, Brennan described the low supplies of the pantry as “dire.” This year, the department is keeping up on providing local families with the supplies they need, but there are many items that are in short supply.
Lissa Fontaine, nurse and health educator at the COA, said the pantry is need of pasta, spaghetti sauce, canned soup, cereals, canned vegetables, and meals in a can such as ravioli as well as other perishable items. Expired food items cannot be accepted.
Brennan said the pantry also accepts donations of personal items such as toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo, and soap.
She added there are about 70 families in East Longmeadow who utilize the services of the food pantry. About half of those families consist of people under 60 years old and the other half are 60 years of age or older.
“I think the thing that people don’t realize is there is no social service agency in town, except for the senior center,” Brennan said. “This is one of the things, among a few other services, that we do provide for people under 60. It’s usually for people who need some financial assistance. This adds on to our fuel assistance and whenever someone’s in crisis financially we can usually temporarily help them get out of that situation.”
Although the pantry is for emergencies, some families need it on a regular basis, Fontaine said.
“Theoretically, it’s for emergencies, but we have people who have to come here,” she added. “They are allowed twice a month … and that’s what they use for their normal food.”
The food pantry is completely reliant on donations, Brennan said.
“On a weekly basis it’s minimal,” she explained. “We will have organizations and some of the businesses do food drives for us, but they don’t last long and people, again, don’t do them in the summer.”
The COA is open between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and any individual seeking to donate items can do so anytime during those hours, Brennan said.