Brockton congregation distributes 200,000 pounds of food in 2011 to people in need
Brockton Mayor Linda M. Balzotti helps stock the shelves in December at the food pantry ministry of First Lutheran Church, Brockton, Mass.Members of First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Brockton, Mass., along with former and current clients, distributed 21,020 pounds (10.5 tons) of food in under three hours to 232 families on the second Saturday in December at the Food for Friends Food Pantry, operated year round by the Brockton congregation. During 2011, the pantry distributed just about 200,000 pounds of food.
Begun in 2007, the food pantry is a member of the Greater Boston Food Bank and Project Bread. The pantry is staffed by volunteers under the leadership of Jim Benson, parish administrator, and is open the second Saturday of each month from 9-11 a.m.
Food for Friends is a "client choice" pantry, which allows clients to choose what they want and affords them the opportunity to actually plan a meal as they would if shopping in a grocery store. Each client has a personal shopper, who guides them through the shopping experience. The majority of the clients are from the city's Haitian and Cape Verdean population. The pantry runs on food received from the Greater Boston Food Bank and donations of food and financial resources from within the congregation. The children and faculty of various Brockton schools hold food drives for the pantry's benefit, and the parishioners of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in nearby North Easton, Mass., also are generous donors.
The food pantry at the start of the day ...
... and at the end of the morning after being restocked several times.Clients line up or save a spot in line in the church parking lot as early as 3 a.m., according to Benson. Several of the pantry clients also are volunteers, who arrive early to bag bulk produce. A group of mostly retired senior citizen volunteers meets the truck at the church each week when it arrives from the Greater Boston Food Bank to help unload 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of food per truckload.
Read an earlier article on First's food pantry.
January 2012
