Hampden Senior Center seeks to create dietary needs pantry

Date: 12/7/2010

Dec.6, 2010

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Managing Editor

HAMPDEN -- The Hampden Senior Center is interested in establishing a food pantry for low-income seniors with special dietary needs and is kicking off this effort with a donations drive during the month of December.

The center is looking for donations of low-sugar and sugar free items, such as canned fruits and peanut butter, as well as low-salt or no added salt foods such as soups, vegetables and canned meats.

Unlike other senior centers, such as Pleasantview in East Longmeadow, the Hampden Senior Center does not have an in-house emergency food resource at this time.

Executive Director Rebecca Moriarty said the need for this kind of special needs pantry has become apparent as the number of seniors signing up for the monthly "brown bag" of supplemental groceries has grown. Some who would benefit, she said, have had to disenroll because health concerns prevented them from using the canned goods they received.

"We do know of quite a few who have [special] dietary needs they are diabetic or the salt content is too high and they have high blood pressure," she said. "We're looking [to create] a pantry so we can swap out things and they can still get the 'brown bag' because they are in need of groceries."

Moriarty said the center traditionally hosts some type of charity collection during the month of December, but this time chose to have it benefit fellow seniors.

"We've done a drive for the Soldier's Home, one for Open Pantry, but this year we feel we need to keep it in-house and meet the needs within the community," she said.

She added that, for the time being, the pantry will be just for the center's seniors and will not be open to the public.

Donations may be dropped of at the senior center during regular hours of operation, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.