The Windham Food Pantry is preparing for its busiest season, with Thanksgiving and Christmas increasing the number of families seeking assistance with their holiday meals.
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| The Windham Food Pantry is seeking non-perishable donations for the holiday season from the community. Donations can be dropped off for the food pantry from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday at 377 Gray Road in Windham. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
“At the moment, we have 65 families who have registered to receive turkeys and the fixings for the holiday,” she said. “We’ll continue to accept requests until the day we do distribution.”
Located at 377 Gray Road in Windham, the pantry depends on donations from large local organizations to help support the families who utilize the temporary food assistance it provides.
“There’s lots of organizations that help make this happen,” Leary-Forrey said. “We receive over 7,000 pounds of food a month from Hannaford, and probably 500 to 1,000 pounds of food two times a month from Wayside Food Programs. We’re distributing more than 10,000 pounds of food each month.”
For the holidays specifically, other local organizations are stepping forward to provide fresh produce to accompany the turkey, which will be provided by Wayside. Members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, who have a lodge in Portland, provide fresh potatoes grown in Maine to accompany the meals.
“We had a very generous donation from the Odd Fellows – they donated 500 pounds of potatoes,” Forey said. “They go to Presque Isle every year with a large trailer and pick up potatoes for several communities.”
One local farm will also provide another fresh vegetable to expand the pantry’s offerings for the holiday meals.
“We try to offer, when we can, the fresh produce,” Leary-Forrey explained. “Webster’s farm is very generous, and they bring by lots of squash for us. It’s a great network that understands the importance of breaking bread and giving thanks.”
While donations from larger organizations are essential to support the families in need, the community plays a vital role in filling the pantry’s shelves, and Forey credits the many groups that dedicate time and energy to help.
“It’s great we have lots of community support. We have Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts doing food drives for us,” Leary-Forrey said. “We have a group of high school students who come to the pantry on a weekly basis to help support our Grab and Go food bags, as well as bagging food for the weekly food drive, and for Thanksgiving and holidays. It would not happen without the help from the volunteers.”
As other organizations have addressed many of the elements of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, the pantry is particularly seeking shelf-stable items from the community, such as canned vegetables, boxed stuffing mix, and dessert mixes.
“The things that we collect for Thanksgiving and Christmas include boxed stuffing mix, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, and canned corn,” Leary-Forrey said. “We try and include some kind of cake or brownie mix for folks to have a little dessert. We also include instant potatoes in case we don’t have the fresh. If we have extra jars of apple sauce or canned yams we’ll include those.”
Also needed for the holiday are aluminum pans sturdy enough to hold a turkey and items that are required for any gathering, including paper napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper.
“When you think about it, you’re serving all this food to friends and family, you need to have the smaller things that are necessary,” Leary-Forrey said. “We offer paper towels and toilet paper, as if you have extra guests in your home, you go through those things. Paper products are always welcome, year-round.”
A good example of the need in the Windham community is shown by the food pantry’s recent development of Grab and Go bags to enable those in need of a meal urgently to take a bag that contains a single meal from the facility’s lobby.
“We’re offering a temporary emergency food program and putting together, each quarter, a breakfast bag, a lunch bag, and a dinner bag,” Leary-Forrey said, adding that it’s a unique program that has not been used by other pantries. “We have exceeded our expectation of the need.”
For the holidays specifically, other local organizations are stepping forward to provide fresh produce to accompany the turkey, which will be provided by Wayside. Members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, who have a lodge in Portland, provide fresh potatoes grown in Maine to accompany the meals.
“We had a very generous donation from the Odd Fellows – they donated 500 pounds of potatoes,” Forey said. “They go to Presque Isle every year with a large trailer and pick up potatoes for several communities.”
One local farm will also provide another fresh vegetable to expand the pantry’s offerings for the holiday meals.
“We try to offer, when we can, the fresh produce,” Leary-Forrey explained. “Webster’s farm is very generous, and they bring by lots of squash for us. It’s a great network that understands the importance of breaking bread and giving thanks.”
While donations from larger organizations are essential to support the families in need, the community plays a vital role in filling the pantry’s shelves, and Forey credits the many groups that dedicate time and energy to help.
“It’s great we have lots of community support. We have Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts doing food drives for us,” Leary-Forrey said. “We have a group of high school students who come to the pantry on a weekly basis to help support our Grab and Go food bags, as well as bagging food for the weekly food drive, and for Thanksgiving and holidays. It would not happen without the help from the volunteers.”
As other organizations have addressed many of the elements of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, the pantry is particularly seeking shelf-stable items from the community, such as canned vegetables, boxed stuffing mix, and dessert mixes.
“The things that we collect for Thanksgiving and Christmas include boxed stuffing mix, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, and canned corn,” Leary-Forrey said. “We try and include some kind of cake or brownie mix for folks to have a little dessert. We also include instant potatoes in case we don’t have the fresh. If we have extra jars of apple sauce or canned yams we’ll include those.”
Also needed for the holiday are aluminum pans sturdy enough to hold a turkey and items that are required for any gathering, including paper napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper.
“When you think about it, you’re serving all this food to friends and family, you need to have the smaller things that are necessary,” Leary-Forrey said. “We offer paper towels and toilet paper, as if you have extra guests in your home, you go through those things. Paper products are always welcome, year-round.”
A good example of the need in the Windham community is shown by the food pantry’s recent development of Grab and Go bags to enable those in need of a meal urgently to take a bag that contains a single meal from the facility’s lobby.
“We’re offering a temporary emergency food program and putting together, each quarter, a breakfast bag, a lunch bag, and a dinner bag,” Leary-Forrey said, adding that it’s a unique program that has not been used by other pantries. “We have exceeded our expectation of the need.”
“We put together another 42 lunch bags in November,” Forey said. “We put them out the first and by the 10th, we had already distributed 42 bags. There is a huge need.”
Other area food banks are seeing the same increase in need as recent economic stresses strain family budgets, and impact people’s ability to afford basic necessities.
“If you talk to any food bank, I’m sure they’re also seeing a huge uptick,” she said, noting that the pantry works with the food bank in Harrison to distribute any surplus donations from Hannaford. “There is such a need, you don’t want any of it to go to waste.”
Donations can be provided to the Windham Food Pantry during business hours, from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. If a member of staff is not available to assist, Leary-Forrey says the donations can be left on the cart in the lobby.
Those looking to receive assistance should reach out to the food pantry staff to set up an appointment by calling 207-892-1931. Grab and Go bags can be picked up during business hours, but anyone using the bags is asked to follow the QR code on the bag to sign up with the pantry for services. Additional information can be found on the Town of Windham website at https://www.windhammaine.us/. <
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