LEE - The Lee Food Pantry is stuffed again with non-perishable items to help feed local needy families.
Thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Lee's annual "Stuff the Trailer" event, dozens of generous people on Saturday restocked the once barren food bank shelves. The Good Samaritans covered the floor of a trailer from an 18-wheeler with grocery bags and cardboard boxes filled with pasta, cereals, canned vegetables, fruits, tuna fish and other goods with a lengthy shelf life.
"There was a steady stream of cars throughout the day," said Lee Kiwanian Bette Flood.
Lee Food Pantry coordinator Sue Gore was thankful for that steady stream of support as the food was desperately needed.
"We hope this gets us through the rest of the [calendar] year," she told The Eagle.
On average this time of year, local food bank volunteers dole out groceries to about 70 households every Saturday, but this weekend they saw an unexpected surge in people needing groceries.
"We had double the number of people on Saturday as we think a number of seasonal employees had lost their jobs," Gore said. "We saw people we hadn't seen in months."
The Lee Food Pantry reaches out to needy households in Lee, West Stockbridge, Stockbridge, Tyringham, Otis and Becket. Young families to senior citizens and others show up between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturdays to get the necessary groceries for their daily meals.
Saturday's event was augmented by several separate collections of non-perishable food in recent weeks around town.
"Lee Middle and High School and St. Mary's School and St. Mary's Church were instrumental to our success, along with some businesses," Flood said.
Food drive organizers noted several financial contributions from those who couldn't help fill the trailer bed. Gore says the monetary donations are spent on food items in short supply on a weekly basis.
Contact staff reporter Dick Lindsay at 413-496-6233.
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