Newly re-opened pantry lets clients take home their heart’s desire
Milford. After 15 months of prepacked boxes. clients can select from a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, canned and boxed items, eggs, milk, and meat, along with sanitary products and pet food.
| 11 Aug 2021 | 03:02
Volunteers (from left): Ed Gragert, Adriana Vilela, and Kim Giarratano (Photo provided by the Ecumenical Food Pantry)
Fresh produce, one of the 19 categories of selections available to clients (Photo provided by the Ecumenical Food Pantry)
The photo shows one the 19 category selections available to clients; to the far right is some toilet tissue, from another of the categories offered (Photo provided by the Ecumenical Food Pantry)
After 15 Covid-stricken months of prepacked, lookalike boxes, the Pike County Ecumenical Food Pantry is letting their clients choose for themselves.
They can now enter the pantry at 321 Fifth St. in Milford and pick out their own groceries, as they did before the pandemic.
The boxes that volunteers prepacked for clients kept everyone stayed safe over the past year, but limited individual choice. Clients would drive up to the pantry and pop their trunks. Volunteers put a same-song, second-verse box in every client’s trunk.
Now clients can select what they want from 19 categories, including a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, canned and boxed items, eggs, milk, and meat, along with sanitary products and pet food.
Safety measures like masking and temperature checks are still in place, and only a few at a time will be allowed in to avoid close contact.
“We’re so pleased we can serve our neighbors in need as we did in the past,” one volunteer said. “They pick out foods that they use and like. That’s how it should be.”
Clients told the pantry workers, “This is such a relief. Now I can choose what I need. Thank you for making this possible.”
With the community’s support, the pantry supplied 3,286 visits by those in need in the past 17 months. Clients include seniors, single parents, and families.
The pantry is still going strong, and sends the message: “We can all be one incident away from needing help.”
Anyone who needs supplemental groceries may go to the pantry on Fridays between noon and 1 p.m. and 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
Non-perishable food donations may be dropped off in one of two large bins located by the pantry door.