Today on Tuesday, Aug. 1, we unloaded more than 6,500 lbs. of food from the Foodbank of Western Massachusetts in Hatfield. We definitely needed this food after serving a total of 194 households on Wednesday, July 26.
Thanks to all our great
volunteers and supporters, who have kept the Friendship Center Food
Pantry going strong since it opened in February 2011.
It's that time of year
when we plan our annual fundraising letter campaign. We are an
all-volunteer organization and we keep costs down, true, but it takes
money to keep all that necessary food coming in.
In 2016, we served 1,007
unique households consisting of 2,863 individuals. We served an
average of 130 households per week. We distributed 290,696 lbs. of
food. The average amount spent on food weekly was $2,730.
In addition to providing
food, we also make services available at the Eagle Street Room of
First Baptist Church North Adams. These include a nurse from
Berkshire Medical Center and numerous others.
In recent years, to help
people get home with their groceries, our volunteers have started a
rides program. As I wrote to those involved a few months ago to thank
them: "We gave our food pantry
friends 1,312 rides in 2016. In December, we provided 109 volunteer
rides. The month with the greatest number of rides was November (five
weeks) at 156; February was the lowest month with 74 rides."
At $7 per ride, if we used
a local taxi, this number of rides would have cost $9,184 -- a cost
we could not and would not have borne. Yet, as we give an average of
35+ lbs. of food per household in a hilly area, these rides are an
enormous service to our members.”
Those not on our mailing
list who would like to support us, may made a tax-deductible
contribution to the Friendship Center Food Pantry and mail it to The
Friendship Center, 45 Eagle St., North Adams, MA 01247.
At work today, Rich Wolfe, standing, and Jocelyn Barrett, seated behind door are expert at shelving and refrigerating the food.
September Meeting
In this turbulent era, we
have decided that it remains important to keep as many forums for
dialogue open as possible. With this in mind, our public interfaith
meetings will resume in September. Our next public interfaith meeting
will be held on Friday, Sept. 15. Our topic will be an update on the
federal and state funding picture for program for those in need. The
meeting will be held at the Eagle Street Room of FBNA and begin at 10
a.m.
With the possibility of
deep cuts in safety net programs – such as the Supplemental
Nutritional Assistance Program – we fear the number of people in
need in our community may increase dramatically. Working together is
the best way to meet this crisis – if it indeed comes.
For more information,
contact northernberkshireinterfaith@gmail.com or call Mark at
413-664-0130 and leave a message.
Thanks for Everything. Keep the Faith and God Bless,
Mark
Thanks for Everything. Keep the Faith and God Bless,
Mark
