Food Pantry Rules
A food pantry is what it is because of three things:
the economic situation at the moment
the volunteers
the people who shop there.
The people come together looking for groceries but often, they want and need far more.
While the coronavirus pandemic rages, the food pantry lines get longer every pantry day because people, families, deal with change they didn’t ask for.
In short, they are rewriting their destiny stories without a road map or instructions.
A number of the people in the pantry, both shoppers and volunteers, didn’t know about food pantries until circumstances set up a situation where they suddenly looked around a room and realized where they were.
There is a name for their category – SITUATIONAL POOR.
A person fits into the situational poor category when s/he lands in a situation created by an event such as a hurricane, fire, floor, pandemic, or other disaster which destroys the home, car, job.
Pantries offer much – peace, community, spiritual connection, groceries. I always think of a food pantry in the basement of a church as a cross between a church service and a busy pizza place.
A food pantry, and those connected with it, are not a program. They are a community. As volunteers, all we really do is open the door. As all the hungry people walk through the door, they undergo a change somehow.
Each person in a pantry, in whatever capacity, has experienced rejection in some way – too young, too old, too crazy, too sick, too poor, not poor enough.
The food pantry experience does not heal a person, nor does it change the story.
The food pantry experience does not offer therapy.
The food pantry is, instead, a conduit for each person’s own healing.
FOOD PANTRY RULES
Sign your name in the register as you enter the pantry.
Find a place in line.
Do not crowd or block the door to the pantry room.
No more than 2 shoppers are allowed in the pantry at one time.
No more than one new shopper is allowed in the pantry at one time.
Shop for a three-day supply of food for everyone in your household.
Place your selections on the table as you shop.
Respect the restrictions on certain foods.
Finish your shopping in 10 minutes.
Once you begin to bag your groceries, do not continue to shop.
Because the food availability is different each time you shop, it is best to visit the food pantry weekly.
Thank you.
Thurman Greco
P.S. The rules may be different at the pantry where you shop. Each food pantry is different. The space is different. The times the pantry is open is different. The management is different.
These specific rules were used in the food pantry I managed where the people were many, the space small, and the hours few.
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Reservoir Food Pantry Launches May Food Drive
The Reservoir Food Pantry in Boiceville, NY is launching an early summer food drive beginning today and running through the end of May.
All food and items of dignity you donate go directly to the needy who visit the pantry or to the needy who receive food packages delivered to their homes.
Funds donated are used to purchase food, items of dignity, and gasoline to go to Latham, NY to pick up food.
The Reservoir Food Pantry opened its doors last September 9th. Volunteers began by delivering food to homebound individuals and households in the area of the Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County, New York. The numbers of people asking to use the Reservoir Food Pantry services has steadily increased since that time…so much so that the pantry is now distributing food three days weekly. People visiting the pantry or receiving food receive a three-day-supply of food.
People using the Reservoir Food Pantry are making hard choices. They’re choosing between food and medicine, or food and transportation, or food and rent.
Many are food insecure. They are struggling to have enough food to eat. And, they are going hungry.
Children are not exempt from this situation. Volunteers at the pantry work hard to see that the children of families using the pantry have enough to eat.
To donate food or items of dignity, please drop them off at the Community Bank in Boiceville, and the Olive Town offices.
If you prefer to send a check, please make it out to the Reservoir Food Pantry, P. O. Box 245, Boiceville, New York, 12412.
It’s easy to include the Reservoir Food Pantry in your gift giving plans. Simply send a check to the Reservoir Food Pantry and include the name and address of the person receiving the gift. We’ll send them a lovely card telling them that a gift was sent in their name.
Traditionally, donations of food and/or money to food pantries decline in the summer. Often, by August, pantries are dangerously low on food. Their supplies are depleted. We are determined to avoid this situation in the Reservoir Food Pantry if we possibly can. We are working to have enough food on hand to meet the increased need throughout the coming summer months…and beyond.
We thank you for your generosity. We thank you for supporting a local charity. We thank you for thinking of those around you who are in need at this time.
For more information, please call 845-399-3967.
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
