Saugus Rotary Club provides meals for food pantry - Wicked Local Saugus

Saugus Rotary Club provides meals for food pantry - Wicked Local Saugus

Mike Gaffney saugus@wickedlocal.com @saugusnews

The Saugus Rotary Club is doing its part to help feed the hungry by donating 900 meals to the Saugus United Parish Food Pantry.

Saugus Rotary Club President Dan Pranka brought packets of fortified rice and bean dinners to the food pantry Oct.. 28. The meals include vitamins, dehydrated vegetables, soybeans and rice.

In addition to the four boxes that went to the food pantry, the Rotary Club delivered two boxes to the Saugus Senior Center, two to the Saugus Public Schools and one to a veterans organization, Pranka said.

A few weeks ago, Saugus Rotary Club members packed the boxes of food at a district Rotary Club meeting. The eight participating Rotary Clubs combined forces to provide 16,000 meals to people in their respective cities and towns.

“There are a lot of people in the community in need of a meal,” Pranka said. “This is a project the Rotary Club is proud be involved with.”

Last year, the Saugus Rotary Club launched a food drive to assist people internationally. This time around, Pranka wanted to keep the effort local.

Wendy Reed, the interim director of the Saugus United Parish Food Pantry, said donations such as those made by the Saugus Rotary Club are crucial to the organization’s success. She noted that the rice and bean dinners are high in nutrition and a unique item she expects to fly off the shelves on Fridays when the food pantry hands out food.

“The Rotary Club has always supported us,” Reed said.

Comprised of all volunteers, the nonprofit Saugus United Parish Food Pantry’s stated mission is to ensure no one goes hungry and to help supplement low-income individuals and those in need with basic nutritional food items.

Charlie Pastorello oversees the dried goods inventory at the food pantry. He said the number of people looking for assistance seems to be on the upswing.

“Two weeks ago, we had 65 people and we’re used to maybe 10 less than that,” Pastorello said.

Statistics show that 116 different households used the food pantry in October and 244 people were served. Over that same stretch a total of 919 bags of food were distributed.

Of the 244 people who benefited from the food pantry, 61 were children and 60 senior citizens.

Some people swing by the food pantry weekly, while others turn to the organization when times get tough.

Reed recalled how one family came to the food pantry for six weeks after both the mother and father lost their jobs. They subsequently started new jobs and sent the food pantry a letter thanking the volunteers for their assistance.

The food pantry is open on Fridays at the Cliftondale Congregational Church, 50 Essex St., Saugus, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. On school snow days the food pantry is closed.

Anyone looking to donate to the food pantry can drop off items at the Cliftondale Congregational Church on Fridays from 8 to 9:30 a.m. or call Dennis Gould at 617-257-4847 for pickup.

Items always needed include canned tuna, chicken, Spam type of meats, peanut butter, American cheese slices, juice (apple, orange, preferably 32-ounce size), jelly, spaghetti sauce, shelf-stable milk, macaroni and cheese, pasta, canned soup and cereal (hot or cold).

For information on the food pantry, to volunteer or make donations, contact Gould at 617-257-4847 or email jdgould1969@aol.com.

The food drive is only one of many charitable endeavors the Saugus Rotary Club oversees. The organization’s annual auction that raises upwards of $25,000 annually for scholarships and other causes is scheduled for Dec. 8 at Kowloon.

Each year, the Rotary Club delivers turkey dinners and Pranka hopes to help out 10 local families this November.

The Rotary Club also hosts a holiday party at the Saugus Senior Center — picking up the tab for seniors’ meals — and is planning to donate a defibrillator to the Senior Center in the near future.