Last week, I was asked by a friend how could she help the pantry. I mentioned, as usual, that dollar donations and new ideas to solicit those dollars would be appreciated. She knows how the complete internal pantry process works to help the neighborhood. As a past board member, she understands the financial burdens I have to overcome each month and she knew me well enough to recognize my relentlessness in my fundraising efforts on behalf of the pantry. Her response was to ask me for guidance: What can be done, additionally? She wanted me to think outside the box of people’s preconceptions of the pantry, and to give her some ideas.
I am best when I free-associate, and so with an overview of daily life in the pantry, I ran down my volunteers, the continual planning, the individuals coming to me for help and to seek food to sustain them through tough times. (I give them food, but also comfort and a place to stay quietly, if they need relief from their daily lives, for a moment.) I have tremendous support from private individuals and acceptable aid from Auburn businesses. The city gives me a grant each year and professor Lorraine Miller of Cayuga Community College put my computer into the 21st century with much-needed data at the pantry’s fingertips. Terry Cuddy and his Cayuga Onondaga BOCES class of 2017 put me on film and on YouTube. I now have a solid footing to inform anyone who asked about the pantry. What was lacking? When one thinks of the pantry, one thinks mostly about food. Bingo! I had one of those honest moments when I knew what I had forgotten: personal goods.
I told my friend that SNAP (food stamps) does not pay for items like soap, detergents, women’s hygiene products, diapers, razors, etc. Personal goods, necessities in all our lives, take a good chunk of change out of skimpy budgets that are stretched to two and a half weeks a month, if lucky. Thank you to the Women’s Fund of CNY for your $1,500 toward women’s personal items.
I told my friend that she can start to help by collecting personal goods in baskets at strategic points, as the receptionist at her business, with a list of goods needed and a tag that reminds people they are helping individuals by paying for personal goods needed to live life, rather than go hungry, because kids need toothbrushes and toothpaste. My tags is simple: ”With a dollar for personal goods spent here, it is a dollar saved for someone needing food tomorrow.” She loved the idea and is now putting the slogan to work.
If one wants to start a basket at work, call me at (315) 252-7772. I have the list of goods needed that help this pantry. This contribution will be helping us all keep from adding to the bottom line of food budgets that often can’t afford to spend another dollar, anytime, anywhere.
News from the pantry
• Thank you, Grace Chapel in Skaneateles, for the 1,638 items purchased from Wegmans. This was a great amount of goods and so timely needed here at the pantry.
• The Cayuga Community Foundation has been very good to us over the years. They just gave the pantry $2,300, early, for our Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, so we can get a head start on them. Thank you, again.
Reminders:
- TomatoFest, is Saturday, Sept. 8, in downtown Auburn.
- Our rummage sale is Sept. 20, 21 and 22. If you have items and clean clothes, please donate during pantry hours.
- Planning has started for the Hunger Walk on Saturday, Oct. 14.
Please volunteer, donate or reciprocate in kind.
