More Friends Than Ever!

Friends,

On Wednesday, March 23, the food pantry at the Friendship Center served 65 families, by far our largest number of households/families on a Wednesday so far. We also jumped from 72 signed-up members to 121. Things got quite hectic for a while but one gets the satisfaction of making connections and being in involved in something so clearly needed.

We served 40 families in the first hour — talk about busy! Unless I'm wrong, and math isn't my thing, that's one family every minute and a half.

Thanks to Al Nelson for saying our opening prayer, something which has quickly become a tradition before we open the front door.

Val Schwartz from the Berkshire Food Project dropped in for a while as did Kim McMann from Target Hunger and other friends. Other friends also dropped in to say hello and get a quick tour of the Center, including my sister and a cousin. Friends don't have to get food to stop in and see what we do. All are welcome.

I'd like to thank Larry Clairmont of the Charity Center for calling me on Tuesday and offering nine cases of Wheaties "Fuel." I got them Wednesday morning. They flew off the shelves and if it hadn't been for this donation, we would have run out of cereal quickly.

I also want to thank Larry Koch and his woodworking students at McCann's Regional Technical High School for making us a great new coat rack (see photo). And also thanks to Bob Davis (Shirley's son) for installing it. It has been a great help (coats prone here and there take up a lot of surface space). And it looks nice.

Thanks to Holly Hardman for a generous recent monetary donation and thanks, too, to the Rev. Peter Elvin, of St. John's Episcopal Church in Williamstown, for his recent donation, which came in the first piece of mail we have received at the Friendship Center, which is located at 43 Eagle St. in North Adams 01247. And by the way, thanks yet again to Mike and Lois Daunis, this time for having the street address put on the front door of the Friendship Center in such an eye-appealing fashion.

And thanks as always to our wonderful volunteers.

Wednesday's intense activity again brought home again just how volunteer-intensive this work is. And we are just at 121 member households. When we visited the Charity Center in Adams well over a month ago, they had 783 households signed up, probably significantly more by now. They serve Adams, Cheshire and Savoy. We serve North Adams, Florida, and Clarksburg and, at least to this point, Williamstown, a larger population base!

God Bless,

Mark

(The top photo from March 23 is deceptive. We were extremely busy for much of the three hours we were open on Wednesday. At bottom, Al Nelson and Corrine Case clean up by the front door during a lull in

activity. Also pictured is the great coat rack made for us by Larry Koch's woodworking students at McCann Regional Technical High School.)