Volunteer Update, September 2021
Sloatsburg Food Pantry
Working as a community to provide supplemental, nutritionally balanced food to those in need, while respecting the dignity of each person we serve.
October 4, 2021
Hello everyone! I hope you and your loved ones are well. As I write this update, I am thinking about how I enjoy taking time to reflect on how we have helped others and share what is coming up. I am so grateful to you and our community for all we have done together.
First, let’s talk about the construction…Visbeen Construction Company is moving the renovation along at a great pace! It is so exciting to see all of our plans literally built before our eyes. We are expecting the renovation to be completed sometime in November!
As a teaser, here is a picture of the entryway (which has been widened) – and the soon-to-come permanent ramp.
We continue to fundraise to pay for the renovation through individual donations, business sponsorships and a raffle drawing (scheduled for November 27).
How can you help?
Do you know a business who may wish to sponsor the renovation? I have attached our Sponsorship levels here. Please feel free to promote them with local businesses you frequent and ask them to consider helping us achieve our goal.
Would you like to sell raffle tickets? Many of you have already done so, but we still have tickets to sell! Connie has some in the office as do Susan and I, so just let us know.
Finally, our plan is to shift from drive-thru distributions to a client choice pantry as of December 1st. There will be a number of changes that we will implement to do this, but for now, I would like to share with you a brief video overview.
If you have four minutes, please click on this link or visit our YouTube channel for the SFP Indoor Choice Pantry Overview Session.
Our numbers crept up a bit in September. We had 345 families come through for Fresh Express, 350 for Traditional and another 7 emergency visits for a total of 702 (equaling 2,267 individuals). In August, we helped a total of 652 families. We are blessed that we are able to keep up with the needs in our community. I have added a Statistics page to our website so please feel free to take a look if you want to get a view of our impact.
Coming up in October, we will hold the drive-thru for Fresh Express on the 13th and our Traditional Opening on the 27th. We will unload our monthly delivery on the 12th and pack boxes on the 25th. Sign-ups for next week will come out shortly. Thank you in advance for your help!!
If anyone gets questions around frozen turkey donations for the holidays, we will be accepting starting in December once the walk-in refrigeration is complete. If the donor cannot wait until then, we will accept them prior to the start of our November 17th distribution from 12-1.
Suggestions or questions? Please feel free to reach out.
Respectfully yours,
Joyce
201.394.0627