Order Prints
ARTICLE OPTIONS
NORFOLK — The Norfolk-Raymondville Food Pantry’s monthly food distribution will have a special touch this Saturday.
Pastor Carl Chamberlain from the First United Methodist Church of Norfolk will dedicate the food pantry at 9 a.m., and food will be distributed following the ceremony. The food pantry moved its program to the church in July.
“It used to be at First United Methodist Church in Norfolk years and years ago,” said Donna Sanborn, who is one of the coordinators with her husband, Ron. “Our pastor wants to dedicate the food pantry back to the church. We wanted to have a little ceremony.”
The food pantry has been in existence since about 1984 and, back in the earlier days, food was distributed from a garage at the First United Methodist Church, 9 West Main St.
The food pantry later moved to a church in Raymondville, but it eventually outgrew its space and was moved back to the First United Methodist Church over the summer. It serves clients from Norfolk and Raymondville.
Volunteers used to get corn meal or flour from Malone to make loaves of bread to give out. The nonprofit later affiliated with the Food Bank of Central New York in Syracuse.
It has also partnered with the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, which has a five-acre garden that’s tended to by the inmates. Corrections officers bring fresh vegetables to Norfolk, as well as Massena, every Tuesday during the growing season.
“We’ve been partnering with them for probably the last seven years. We get everything from tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, watermelon and zucchini,” Mrs. Sanborn said. “We just set that outside. Clients come in and take what they need. It’s a very good program. It saves a lot of money ordering fresh vegetables.”
It also works with GardenShare, which provides fresh vegetables, she said.
Although the food distribution is held the third Saturday of each month, she said it’s on call 24 hours a day to help those in need.
This will be the 17th year the Sanborns have been associated with the program. But, after that many years, she said they’re “easing out” and letting others take charge of the program.
“We’re still here to offer advice and give information. We still go down,” she said. “We like to be there. We’ve known a lot of people over the years. We enjoy this.”
