The Brewster Community Food Pantry in Need of Donations
By Faith Ann Butcher
Demand is up and supplies are down. The Brewster Community Food Pantry, an all-volunteer run organization, needs help in providing food to families in Brewster in the surrounding areas.
The food pantry, which served over 12,000 meals in 2012, collects canned goods, including soup and fruits, as well as dried vegetables, rice, beans, pasta, sauces, dry or evaporated milk, crackers, cereal, tea and coffee. It also accepts donations of diapers and personal hygiene items.
“They are beginning to feel the pinch of the economy,” said Christine McDowell, who is one of 35 volunteers at the food pantry.
The pantry which typically supplies families with enough food for three meals a day for three days, twice a month, as well as special holiday meals for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, has already determined that it will not be able to provide for an Easter dinner this year.
“We will be giving out Easter baskets, but there is just not enough money to give people an Easter dinner this year,” McDowell said.
The Brewster Community Food Pantry is a cooperative effort between St. Andrew’s Episcopal and St. Lawrence O’Toole Roman Catholic churches in Brewster and St. James Episcopal Church in North Salem.
It is run out of the Great Hall of St. Andrew’s Church located at 26 Prospect Street, Brewster.
The pantry is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to noon and on Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m. Goods can be accepted during those times.
The Brewster Community Food Pantry has been feeding needy families since 1987.
Monetary donations are needed and are tax deductible. Make checks payable to Brewster Community Food Pantry, Inc. Checks can be mailed to: Brewster Community Food Pantry 26 Prospect St. Brewster, NY 10509.
For more information, contact St. Andrew’s Church at 845-279-4325.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.