We are an all-volunteer coalition of community organizations, houses of worship, and  concerned citizens dedicated to assisting local families who need food. We run a Food Pantry twice a month that distributes a nutritional bag of groceries providing four days of meals.
Spring 2014

I A Note from Our President 

 

Welcome to the inaugural edition of our newsletter, created to inform our community about the mission and work of the Larchmont Mamaroneck Hunger Task Force, more commonly known as "the Food Pantry."

 

Our organization, now more than 20 years old, is a force to be reckoned with: an all-volunteer group that provides food twice monthly to neighbors in need. They are individuals and families who are struggling to get by amidst employment challenges, illness, disability, or the many difficulties in living in an area with a very high cost of living. When you read From the Pantry, I think you may be surprised to learn how many families use our services and how we manage to run a small supermarket, really, using an army of giving neighbors. As always, we thank you for your support and the compassion that makes Larchmont and Mamaroneck such wonderful places to live!

Malcolm Frouman
President, LMHTF
I Putting the Food in the Food Pantry
  Many volunteers are high schoolers

For neighbors who need help, the Food Pantry provides a nutritious bag of groceries to every registered household, with each recipient receiving enough food for four days of meals. The process begins with volunteer Liz Cook, who orders 7,500 pounds--more than three tons--of food for each distribution. "The Food Bank of Westchester is our primary source of food," she explains, "because it offers us reduced prices compared with other suppliers. If the Food Bank doesn't have what we want, we then order from a wholesaler, and there is a third supplier for bread." Food and program purchases take up 95% of the Food Pantry's annual budget; each distribution costs up to $12,000. "Each distribution, I order two fresh or frozen meats, cheese or yogurt, and eggs," Liz says, "along with five fresh fruits and/or vegetables. I also order tuna, bread,  shelf-stable milk, canned beans, soup, vegetables and fruit. Pasta, rice, cereal, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, powdered milk and dried beans round out the order."

 

Once a month, the Food Bank supplies 200 bags of produce for free. Food also comes from the 40-50 food drives held each year by community members. "The Partnership," a group of 200 community members, donates a special food item for the homebound seniors once a month. And, in the summer, community members often bring in homegrown vegetables and dedicated gardeners also donate the harvest from the extensive vegetable garden at the Sheldrake Environmental Center. The Food Pantry is a true coalition of concerned citizens, community organizations, and houses of worship.  

I More Than Just Food

The spring brought the launch of a nutrition education initiative at the Food Pantry. Representatives from Montefiore Hospital in New Rochelle are now attending distributions to talk with clients (free of charge) about subjects including healthy eating habits, balanced diets, and how to prepare nourishing meals. This information helps our clients and complements the food we provide. In the works is a diabetes prevention program with the Rye YMCA.


The Pantry by the Numbers
    
      > Over 600 households are registered with  

      the Food Pantry

 

      > One-third of the Food Pantry's clients

      are Children 

 

      > Volunteers range in age from 8 to 85   

 

      > The Food Pantry operates in donated space 

      at the CAP Center, 134 Center Avenue, Mamaroneck

 

I Shift Work  

Providing groceries to a growing number of local citizens is no easy task; for each distribution, the Food Pantry staffs four distinct volunteer shifts with over 100 individuals to help sort, assemble, and distribute the gr
  The "Downstairs Truck Shift"
  Front Row: Rita Plansky, Agathe 
  Tomotsugu. Back Row: Jean Peron, Abby
  Katz, Barbara Smith, Amy Lief, Genie
  Juliano, Nova Cutler
oceries that fill our eco-friendly cloth bags.   

 

The Tuesday morning "truck shift," which runs from 9:30am to 11:30am, does the heavy lifting--literally. The "upstairs crew" sets up a system of conveyors and tables designed to bring the food down the stairs to the CAP Center basement. A team of volunteers is stationed at each "turn" of the whirring conveyor to keep the boxes moving. Once the food reaches the basement, another group of volunteers moves boxes from the conveyor to the storage room, into refrigerators or freezers, or onto eight large tables, arranging the food to form an assembly line, ready for the packing shift.

 

The Tuesday packing shift of more than 60 people starts at 5pm and in just 90 minutes assembles more than 450 bags of nonperishable items and more than 450 bags of fresh fruit and vegetables. The volunteers also move the more than 900 packed bags into the correct spots for subsequent distribution and flatten hundreds of empty boxes and set them out for recycling.

 

At 6:30, the doors to the CAP Center are opened and the clients, many of whom have been patiently lining up along Center Avenue often an hour or more before opening, come down to the basement to check in at the registration desk and receive their food. Approximately half of the Pantry's clients receive food on Tuesday nights. The distribution shift concludes at 8:30 pm.

 

Two separate volunteer crews serve clients the next morning. One team handles deliveries to 72 homebound clients, while a second crew of 15-20 volunteers helps remaining clients register and collect their food. When the shift ends at 10:30, the volunteers inventory any leftover food. The food that will not last until the next distribution is donated to the Head Start cook in the CAP Center or to neighboring churches.

 

Exhausting? Yes, at times. Exciting and energizing? Always. It takes a Village (and a Town) to make the Food Pantry work. If you are interested in volunteering occasionally or on a regular basis, please email Joan Capaldi at volunteer@LMFoodPantry.org.
I Help Wanted

 

Hunger doesn't take a vacation and the need for volunteers is urgent as we plan our volunteer shifts this summer. We especially need volunteers to pack grocery bags on Tuesdays from 5:00-6:30pm and strong individuals to carry grocery bags for clients on Wednesdays from 9-10:30am.

 

The Food Pantry will be distributing groceries on July 15-16, July 29-30, August 12-13 and August 26-27. Energetic volunteers are always welcome from 9:30am-11am on Tuesdays to help unload groceries from delivery trucks. If you are interested in participating in any of these volunteer opportunities, please email Joan Capaldi at volunteer@LMFoodPantry.org.
I Bank Note

It's not just individuals who help out at the Food Pantry; each year, dozens of area businesses show their support as well. Currently, the Food Pantry is enrolled in TDBank's Affinity Program. By linking your new or existing account (with code AG096) to the Food Pantry, the bank's annual donation to our organization increases. Stop into your local TD Bank branch for more information or to sign up.

 
Other Ways to Help

To donate, visit us on the web at www.LMFoodPantry.org 
 
To sponsor a food drive, contact Sondra Levy at 
FoodDrive@LMFoodPantry.org. 
Specific items are always needed. This summer, our most urgent need is cereal and shelf-stable milk. Visit our website for more information on how
to donate these items.