More volunteers needed at Canton food pantry, thrift shop as busy summer season arrives - WatertownDailyTimes.com

More volunteers needed at Canton food pantry, thrift shop as busy summer season arrives - WatertownDailyTimes.com

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CANTON — Connie Jenkins, executive director of the Canton Church & Community Program, isn’t worried about having enough groceries to stock her program’s food pantry or enough clothes to offer at its Second Chance thrift shop.

But she is concerned about having enough volunteers to keep everything running smoothly so CCP can continue to serve more than 200 low-income households every month. The program assists residents from the towns of Canton, Clare, DeKalb, Hermon and Russell. The service area was expanded recently to include the village of Heuvelton.

“I need volunteers. I’m worried,” Ms. Jenkins said. “We’ve got mountains of food. We have very solid, wonderful broad support. We are meeting a very definite, continued need in the north country and we’re happy to do it. We’re proud to do it, but we also need help.”

Those who aren’t sure if they want to volunteer can stop by her CCP office at 7 Main St. and ask questions before they make a decision. The thrift shop is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The adjoining food pantry is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursdays.

“They don’t have to come right in and sign up. They can come have a tour and meet us first,” Ms. Jenkins said.

Summer is the busiest season for CCP, which operates its thrift shop and food pantry from a downtown building at the corner of Main Street and Riverside Drive. Demand for food increases when children aren’t receiving breakfast and lunch at school.

“I need people for everything,” she said. “I need people in the shop to take a morning or afternoon shift or to be a substitute. I need people in the pantry to just help distribute food.”

Right now, volunteers range in age from 14 to 85. Several are retired from teaching or other careers.

“I’m really grateful for the volunteers we have, but we need more,” Ms. Jenkins said. “We can’t do it without the hands-on help.”

About twice a month, she said it would be helpful to have extra help available when a food truck arrives from the Central New York Food Bank, Syracuse. The food items have to be unloaded and brought into the pantry.

Last week, a tractor trailer arrived with $1,100 worth of food, including meat, cheese, fish, fruit, vegetables and non-perishable items.

Every Monday morning, the pantry receives about 30 cases of food donations from the Potsdam Walmart. Residents from the Cerebral Palsy Association help pick up the food from Walmart.

The Canton Price Chopper also regularly donates food. Items are also contributed by area churches, community groups and individuals.

In the summer, the pantry receives fresh produce from gardens cared for by inmates at the state prisons in Ogdensburg.

“It’s a time of plenty, except for the help,” she said. “I would really, really welcome help in the pantry.”

She said help for the food pantry is especially needed on Thursdays when there’s a shortage of volunteers. Some food safety training is required to work in the food pantry and a training program is offered online

Earlier this year, the CCP started an outreach pilot program that involves delivering food to residents at the two Riverside Drive apartments who can’t make it to the food pantry.

Volunteers, known as the “senior squad” deliver bags of food the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Kinney Drugs donated cloth bags for the program and extra volunteers were recruited to implement the program.

“We’ve got 25 apartments now. Most of them are seniors right up to age 90,” she said. “I’m really proud of it. It’s an important thing that we’ve done to reach people. They’re entirely deserving, they’re eligible. They need the food, they want the food. They’re three blocks away and they can’t get here.”

Volunteers interested in this program would work about twice a month for about 90 minutes each time.

Thrift shop volunteers can choose from two different shifts, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Five slots are open that need to be filled. Substitutes are also needed.

JoAnn McAllister, a retired public health nurse from Heuvelton, has spent the past two years volunteering every Wednesday in the food pantry.

“I like helping people. I was looking for something to do that would be interesting,” she said. “I like the camaraderie and friendships we’ve made.”

Ms. Jenkins said three upcoming fundraisers will help support CCP.

Coakley Home and Hardware Store, 2535 Route 68, is sponsoring a hot dog fundraiser for CCP from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 8 and 9. Anyone who makes a donation that day receives a free hot dog.

On June 9, The Any Music Singers (TAMS) is having a recycling sale to benefit the Church and Community Program. The sale begins at 2 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 3½ E. Main St., followed by a 3 p.m. concert. There is no admission to the concert, but donations to CCP will be accepted. The sale will continue after the concert.

Also, the St. Lawrence Dairy Princess Program is raising money to help local food pantries provide more dairy products for their customers.

More information about CCP is available on the website, ccpcanton.org. There is also a Facebook page. The phone is: 315-386-3534