FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Thanks to volunteers from the United Parish Church in Fort Fairfield, the town once again has a food pantry to serve community members in need.
After the Friends Helping Friends pantry closed in June, members of the church got together to talk about how they could start a food pantry of their own. Since then the Basket of Blessings Food Pantry, located at the United Parish Church on 4 Church St., has served numerous families and individuals in Fort Fairfield.
This month Basket of Blessings opened its doors on Nov. 6 and 16. Organizers plan to open the pantry twice a month, on the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday from 3 to 5:30 p.m. and the third Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. Their next open days will be Wednesday, Dec. 4, and Saturday, Dec. 21.
At the start of the day on Saturday, Nov. 16, volunteer Amy Chartier noted that the pantry served 23 households the first day and expected to possibly see even more people that day.
The United Parish Church in Fort Fairfield recently began the Baskets of Blessings Food Pantry, which provides nonperishable food items to community members in need.
(Staff photo/Melissa Lizotte)
“People have been very happy that this is available,” Chartier said, about Basket of Blessings.
Thus far volunteers have filled Basket of Blessings with food from the local Catholic Charities warehouse and community donations. The pantry accepts nonperishable food donations such as canned and packaged soup, fruits, vegetables, pasta and rice as well as coats, mittens, gloves and other winter clothing items.
One benefit of the pantry, Chartier stated, is that folks only have to give their name, address, phone number and the number of people in their household. They do not need to qualify for income guidelines in order to receive food.
“We want people to feel welcome to come. It doesn’t matter what their income is,” Chartier said. “We don’t want income to be a barrier if they really have a need for food.”
Folks who want more information about Basket of Blessings can contact Chartier through the Basket of Blessings Facebook page.
