Hi Team – 38 families were served, with a total of 108 people receiving groceries.  6 new families joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations and food purchases, yielded a staggering 2,365 lbs.  This week’s volunteers included Anne, Karlene, Rena, Autumn W, Michael C, Steve, Jean, Terry, Ellen, Adam, Jenn and myself.

This week we were able to provide prayers for anyone asking for prayer, and in doing so 1 person made decision for Christ.  Praise the Lord!  And a special thank you to our Friday team who again this month picked up, delivered, processed and put away almost 1.2 tons of food!  — Doug

Hi Team – This past Father’s day was a slow Sunday for your Stroudwater Food Pantry. 27 families were served, with a total of 90 people receiving groceries.  3 new families joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations and food purchases, yielded a total of 1,609 lbs.  This week’s volunteers included Anne, Karlene, Rena, Autumn W, Michael C, Steve, Jean, Terry, Tammy, Adam, Jenn, Angie and myself.

A special thank you goes out this week to some folks in our church family who provided food donations, and also to our long time patron Mike Curran who topped off a large donation of pasta and sauce with a couple of cases of cereal.  Thank you all, and God bless you for your continued support of your Stroudwater Food Pantry!  — Doug

Stroudwater Food Pantry Status – 6/11/17

Hi Team – This week your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 35 families, with a total of 98 people receiving groceries.  1 new family joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations and food purchases, yielded a total of 2,377 lbs.  It was our second biggest food processing day of the year so far!  This week’s volunteers included Anne, Rena, Autumn W, Michael C, Steve, Jean, Jenn, Adam, Angie and myself.

This week we were able to provide prayers for anyone asking for prayer, and in doing so 1 person made decision for Christ.  Praise the Lord!  And a special thank you to our Friday team who picked up, delivered, processed and put away 1.2 tons of food!                  – Doug

Hi Team – Yesterday was a busy Sunday as your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 43 families, with a total of 151 people receiving groceries.  8 new families joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations and food purchases, yielded a total of 1,671 lbs.  This week’s volunteers included, Rena, Autumn W, Michael C, Steve, Jean, Tammy, Adam, Angie and myself.

About this week:

• One of the services of the Stroudwater Food Pantry is RAP – our Roadside Assistance Program.  We developed it to address the needs of people standing in the middle of the road with signs asking for help.  On Tuesday a van load of teens from the My Place Teen Center in Westbrook traveled to our church and assembled 125 Roadside Assistance bags.  Each lunch bag-sized portion provides 1 person a two day supply of nonperishable food.  This outreach is our latest attempt to address the immediate needs of those who are homeless and hungry; it is also an opportunity to partner with another organization and encourage young people to get involved in feeding some of the most disadvantaged in our community.
• We took delivery of two new heavy duty food carts; this might not seem like such a big deal until you consider that during summer months it is common for us to receive and process a ton or more of food on Fridays, then turn it around and distribute it out to the public on Sundays.   The new carts make it easier on all of us when it comes to moving 50 lb. boxes of food around!
• This week we were able to provide prayers for anyone asking for prayer, and in doing so three people made decisions for Christ.  Praise the Lord!

It is only through the generous financial giving by dedicated people, both inside our church and outside our church, that your Stroudwater Food Pantry continues to thrive.  It is how we meet our equipment and operational expenses, and how we can afford new ways to extend our outreach to the most impoverished in our communities.  Thank you, and God Bless you all!    — Doug

Hi Team – This past Sunday your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 41 families, with a total of 118 people receiving groceries.  4 new families joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations and food purchases, yielded a total of 2,030 lbs; a ton of food!  This week’s volunteers included Anne, Michael C, Steve, Jean, Tammy, Terry, Adam, Jenn, Angie & Teresa, and myself.

Thank you to the volunteers of Stroudwater Food Pantry who pickup, deliver, sort, and put away food on Friday mornings, and also to the volunteers who give up their Sunday afternoons to open our doors and distribute groceries to those in need.  Your heart for the meal insecure is what drives our mission statement:

To do the work of Jesus by feeding those in need, and reducing the number of food insecure within the Greater Portland Community. “For I was hungry and you fed me…”   — Doug

Hi Team – This past Sunday your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 38 families, with a total of 117 people receiving groceries.  5 new families joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations and food purchases, yielded a total of 1,524 lbs. This week’s volunteers included, Anne, Rena, Michael C, Autumn W, Steve, Jean, Lois, Tammy, Terry, Adam, Jenn, Sheamus and myself.  During our pantry hours on Sunday Adam led the SFP prayer ministry, with 3 people making decisions for Christ.  Praise the Lord!

And a special thank you this week goes out to the School Spirit Challenge in Portland, for their generous donation of $500 to your Stroudwater Food Pantry.  Thank you for your amazing donation!  — Doug

Hi Team – This past Sunday your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 32 families, with a total of 96 people receiving groceries.  8 new families joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations and food purchases, yielded a total of 1,843 lbs. This week’s volunteers included, Anne, Rena, Michael C, Karlene, Autumn W, Steve, Jean, Lois, Wayne L, Ellen & Ben B, Adam and myself.

 This past Sunday we continued offering prayers for any of our clients who wanted prayer, thank you Adam for volunteering to pray with people!  And THANK YOU to all the volunteers (especially the Friday & Sunday crews!) who week in and week out continue to make your Stroudwater Food Pantry a driving force for hunger relief in a the great Portland area!  — Doug

Hi Team – This past Sunday your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 42 families, with a total of 153 people receiving groceries.  6 new families joined us this week.

Our supermarket rescue food pickups, along with this week’s donations, yielded a total of 1,513 lbs. This week’s volunteers included, Rena, Michael C, Steve, Jean, Wayne L, Mei C, Ellen & Ben B, Tammy, Mike H, and Adam.

 One of our Strategic Goals for the Stroudwater Food Pantry is to share the love of Christ with our clients.  Over the last few weeks we have reorganized a service we’ve been providing to pantry clients for a long time; we pray with those who ask for prayers.  When we are open to the public we now try to have at least one person on site who is dedicated to pray with anyone who feels a need for prayer.  This week both Adam and Mike Halkiu volunteered for prayer duty; among those prayed for, 7 made personal decisions for Christ.  Praise the Lord!  Thank you Adam and Mike for supporting your Stroudwater Food Pantry in a way that feeds both the body and the spirit!  — Doug

Hi Team – This past Sunday your Stroudwater Food Pantry served 35 families, with a total of 91 people receiving groceries.  4 new families joined us this week.

Surprisingly, our SHAW’S and Hannaford food pickups was one of the smallest so far this year, yielding only 1,349 lbs.  As you know our typical pickups range from 1,650 to 2,000 lbs.   Fortunately our freezer capacity allows us to plan for shortages and carry food in reserve. This week’s volunteers included, Karlene, Michael C, Autumn W, Mei C, Lois, Adam, Sheamus, Terry, Jean, Judy and myself.

After a thorough pilot of our Roadside Assistance Program (RAP) last year, we are now pushing the program ahead aggressively through at least the end of summer.  This week we made up 34 RAP bags of emergency food rations to be handed out to people standing in the middle of the street asking for donations.  The bags include peanut butter, a pop-top can of soup, crackers, 1 oatmeal packet, a granola bar, plastic utensils, napkin, and a pink information tag with our pantry name, address, and hours of operation.   The bags have a high retail cost and so are one-per-customer, so we are actively pursuing low cost purchases and donations in support of this area of ministry expansion.  Our biggest need for the Roadside Assistance Program is for metal cans of soup with pop-tops (no need for a can opener).

A big thank you to Preble Street Pantry & Soup Kitchen for dropping off 3 cases of granola bars this week, they will all go right into RAP bags.  And a special thanks to Dee and Bill Barrows for allowing us to store 80 lbs of frozen meat in their freezer.  That will be coming in handy now that we have some freezer space available in the pantry!                         — Doug

Hi Team – We had a busy day this past Sunday at your Stroudwater Food Pantry, with 48 families served.  A total of 133 people received groceries, with 4 new families joining us this week.

It was a good thing our Friday pickup was so big – our SHAW’S and Hannaford food pickups, plus this week’s donations, yielded over a ton of food!  This week’s volunteers included Anne, Michael C, Autumn W, Mei C, Steve, Lois, Adam, Terry, Frank, Brandon, Jean, Angie and myself.

A special thank you for the food donation by Mike Curran, a long time supporter of our ministry.  And a special thank you to the Friday food team – you processed and weighed so much food you broke the scale!  (Its ok, I just received a new replacement scale)                 — Doug