Stroudwater Food Pantry Status – 2/9/20

Hi Team – This past weekend your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 52 families and provided groceries to a total of 150 people.  5 new families joined the pantry this week.

Our supermarket food rescue pickups and food donations totaled 2,460 lbs.  Volunteers for this week included Adam, Angie, Cat, Donna, Jean, Michelle & Matt & Ben, Misty & Beth & Ben & David, Nick, Phil, Scott, Steve and myself.

And now, some exciting news about your Stroudwater Food Pantry’s latest new program:

Back in December we started piloting a new program to deliver groceries to the homes of qualifying clients who cannot travel to our pantry. We expanded the effort in January, and at this time we are serving 15 households in a program called Last Mile Home Delivery, a program that goes more than the extra mile, it goes the last mile need to get groceries to the doors of people who cannot come to us.  It is yet another opportunity to further close the gap on meal insecurity in southern Maine. Steve Dulac, a long-time volunteer with the pantry, manages this program.

Some of you know that last year we were awarded a grant to buy a delivery van in support of our new outreach effort.  Last week we purchased our van and this week we start using it for making our home deliveries.  We anticipate the van will become a game changer for us, enabling us to both pickup larger volumes of food, and to deliver to larger numbers of Last Mile Home Delivery clients.  In doing so it allows your Stroudwater Food Pantry to grow beyond the limits of its brick and mortar footprint, and serve an ever-expanding community that needs our help, now more than ever.

Thank you everyone who accepts our scheduled volunteer assignments each month; regardless whether it is for Friday food processing, Sunday distributions to clients, or in support of our new Last Mile program, it is very much appreciated!  The work you do and the support you provide continues to better enable your Stroudwater Food Pantry to meet the changing needs of a continually growing community.

Thank you, and God Bless you all!  —  Doug

To learn more about your Stroudwater Food Pantry, follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stroudwaterfoodpantry/