Local food pantry's shelves nearly empty, asks community for donations - NEWS10 ABC

MECHANICVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Two weeks into the fall season and some local food pantries are scraping the shelves.

The Mechanicville Community Center didn’t expect to see more than 200 people already come through their doors.

Now, the food pantry needs the community’s help to stock up.

All of the pasta sauce that’s currently left at the Mechanicville food pantry is only enough to feed about four to five families. They’re running low on a lot of other items and it’s only the beginning of October.

“It can be, some weeks, a life saver for some,” said Casey Key, a volunteer for Mechanicville Area Community Services Center.

At one point, the Mechanicville food pantry was a life saver for Key– A single mother with three little mouths to feed, who’s now a volunteer.

“They are more than welcoming and it’s great to know we have something like this in our community,” Key said.

The usually stocked shelves are uncomfortably sparse.

“We always give out two cans of tuna per family and we always have a ton of that and there’s not too many cans left,” said Nicole Coons, a coordinator for Mechanicville food pantry.

The freezer is nearly empty. Coons said that’s all they have at the moment.

In two weeks, the center gave out nearly 3,000 pounds of food, serving 54 families in just three days.

The pantry’s next big order won’t arrive for another two weeks.

“We’ve seen over 1,600 people this year at the food pantry, which is already more than we saw the whole year last year,” said Megan Quillinan, Executive Director of MACSC. “To run low this early in the season, is troubling.”

Now, the center needs the community’s help to keep up with demand.

They’re asking for canned goods, toiletries, or monetary donations.

“It worries me because I know there are a lot of families in need and if they didn’t have food pantries like ours, I don’t know how they would be able to give their families what they need,” Coons said.

For families of four like Key’s, it could make all the difference.

“That could make or break whether they have food for their children for those two or three days,” Key said.

Six dollars goes a long way at the food pantry. It can buy 25 meals at the food bank.