Family Pantry: Helping Neighbors Fund

“It looks like the North Pole up here!” exclaimed Mary Anderson, Executive Director of the Family Pantry in Harwich.

In the last week before Christmas, the Pantry was bursting at the seams with holiday cheer – and a good supply of tangible items, as well.  The shelves were stocked with food items, and gifts for the children’s toy giveaway were piled high.

It’s the most active time of the year for the local food distribution center, and 2006 is shaping up to be the busiest year yet.

“We were swamped this morning,” said Anderson on the Tuesday before Christmas.  “We had eight new families, and our average is 2 or 3.”

This increase is indicative of what the Pantry, which provides food and clothing to those in need, has been seeing throughout the year.  While some months saw visitation on par with last year’s figures, many more were up significantly.  Overall, Anderson is projecting a 10% increase in client visitation for 2006.

“This year we’ll have close to 8,000 client visits,” she said.  The Pantry has served 2,309 families so far this year and, according to Anderson, 747 of those families were brand new visitors in 2006.

The numbers back up what Anderson, her volunteer staff, and lots of Cape Codders in general have been noticing for some while now.  Cape residents are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet; for those in the working world or on fixed incomes, the cost of living is soaring beyond reach.

Anderson said that many newcomers to the Pantry are self-conscious about the situations they’re finding themselves in.  She described one family, new to the Pantry this month, in which the husband recently lost his job and unemployment benefits had not yet kicked in.

“I believe they had two children and were just devastated to have to come here,” she said.

In another recent situation, a single mother found herself at the Pantry’s doorstep after her husband stopped paying child support.  Anderson described the woman as “heartbroken” to have to rely on the Pantry.

But Anderson is fond of saying that the Family Pantry doesn’t judge people; their doors are open to everyone.

“We never turn anyone away,” she said.

The holidays are an especially crucial time of year for the organization.  Clients find that the added expenses of the season – necessary things like heating oil and electricity – leave them short on funds for food.  And once gift-giving is added to the mix, families stumble.

Following on the heels of the Pantry’s recent Thanksgiving basket giveaway, which provided turkeys and all the fixings to over 300 local families, last week the organization distributed another 150 turkey baskets to families in need of a Christmas dinner.

“The Yarmouth third-graders decorated all the food bags with scenes of Christmas and winter,” said Anderson.

Another annual tradition for the Pantry is its holiday toy distribution.  Each year, clients can sign up in advance and come by on distribution day to pick up unwrapped gifts for their children.  Thanks to the program, this year 659 local children aged infant to 16 were guaranteed something nice to open on Christmas morning.

Each year the number of participants in these programs goes up.

“Last year we were in a panic,” said Anderson, recounting how just before the 2005 toy distribution they realized they didn’t have enough gifts to go around for the number of children signed up.

But thankfully, each year the local community comes through in a big way for its neighbors in need.

Anderson reported that this year things were a bit more jolly coming down to the wire.  “This year we’ve had so many toys dropped off and financial donations made,” said Anderson.  “I’m happy to say that this year we are in excellent shape [for the giveaway].  We are delighted!”  She said parents would be able to pick up two or three gifts plus stocking stuffers for their children.

The Cape Cod Chronicle’s Helping Neighbors Fund has been doing its part for three years now to assist the Family Pantry through its busiest time of year.  Local residents, businesses, and organizations continue to donate generously to the fund, and it’s making a difference.

“Helping Neighbors is up over last year’s total,” said Anderson last week.  “We’ve received about $14,000 as of now.”

Thanks to the generosity of the local community, Anderson is cautiously optimistic heading into the new year.  “I’d like to say I think we’ve got a solid footing for 2007.”

Donations to The Cape Cod Chronicle’s Helping Neighbors Fund can be made directly to the Family Pantry at 133 Queen Anne Rd., Harwich, MA02645 (please write “Helping Neighbors” on the memo line), or mailed in using a coupon that appears elsewhere in this newspaper.  The names of donors, excepting those wishing to remain anonymous, will be published weekly.