Twenty Belmont businesses participated in the annual Gifts of Hope campaign to benefit the Belmont Food Pantry, which serves 172 Belmont families in need. Gifts of Hope has been a longstanding tradition of the Belmont Citizen-Herald, which designates a local charity to support during the holiday season.
More than $30,000 in monetary donations has been received through the campaign, which will help fund the pantry's move to its new location on the ground floor of Town Hall at 455 Concord Ave. in early February. This will be the pantry’s seventh location since it was founded 26 years ago by Director Patty Mihelich. The pantry has been located in the basement of Mount Hope church in Belmont since November 2016.
Prior to Mount Hope, every pantry location was owned by the town. Town Administrator Patrice Garvin was instrumental in helping to find the new space for the pantry. She said the Town Hall space has been used for IT training and was formerly an office for the Retirement Board. The Retirement Board now has a new office on Concord Avenue and the IT training room can be relocated to the third floor of the Homer Municipal Building in the conference room located behind the Belmont Gallery of Art.
This year’s campaign funds will help outfit the new space with tables, shelving, a refrigerator, and stock for the shelves. The pantry will also implement a new check-in system using a special software program and will now have an application that everyone will be required to fill out, according to Mihelich.
"The Gifts of Hope impact has been tremendous since it began more than 20 years. The program reminds the community every year about the food pantry, what it does, who it helps and how to help. It is the biggest and only fundraiser for the pantry with the monetary donations being the sole support for the pantry," said Mihelich.
Donations may be mailed to the Belmont food Pantry, P.O. Box 291, Belmont, MA 02478.
