What a month! November Food Pantry donations blew away all previous records. Twelve thousand fifty-five lbs of food – 6 tons – came into the Pantry. An amazing cadre of volunteers boxed and distributed nearly 200 Thanksgiving boxes. There is so much to be thankful for:
Cub Scout Pack 123 collected and delivered 532 lbs of food to the Pantry under their “Scouting for Food” program. Thank you scouts, Cubmaster Dan Bailey, and deliverer Yogi Bear! Rappahannock Girl Scouts brought us 69 lbs of food.
Jeff Perry, 6th grade science and math teacher at Wakefield Country Day School, consumed another worm to make good on what he promised to do if Wakefield students collected 2000 cans of food. Wakefield kids came up with 2600 cans, 1641 lbs of which Mr. Perry and students Tanner Perry and Bret Heddleston dropped off at the Pantry. Way to go, Wakefield!
Union First Market Bank (formerly Rappahannock Bank) contributed bucks, boxes, brawn, and food to the Pantry’s Thanksgiving effort. UFM gave us a check for $1,000 toward holiday dinners and also the boxes to package the dinners. Sharon Woodward delivered 131 lbs of cranberry sauce and 375 lbs of sweet potatoes. Union Bank regional president Mike Leake, his wife, Pam, and daughter, Caite, and bank employees Kelly-Jo Settle, Sarah Morgan, and Ashley Hawkins spent the Saturday before Thanksgiving loading the food into boxes.
Waterpenny Farm donated 346 lbs of turnips, peppers, lettuce, greens, and bok choy. Sunnyside Farm dropped off 139 lbs of potatoes, celeriac, and other produce (in addition to 393 lbs of vegetables earlier in November.) We were able to give each Pantry recipient a 10 lb bag of turnips thanks to gleaners from the Society of St. Andrew (www.endhunger.org) after St. Andrew’s volunteer Skeeter Ramey dropped off 2,200 lbs of turnips. The Society of St. Andrew salvages fresh produce that wouldn’t be harvested and donates it to feed the hungry.
Steve Welch of Pepperidge Farm continued his outstanding generosity by supplying not only his regular delivery of bread, but also most of the stuffing for the Thanksgiving boxes.
To handle the special Thanksgiving distribution, Pantry manager Mimi Forbes set up a drive-through line and had recipients sign up for time slots on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. As they drove up, volunteers loaded boxes containing potatoes, onions, stuffing and cans of cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans, and corn, a bag of turnips and a 12 lb turkey. Thirty-three lucky folks received a pumpkin pie, courtesy of Mary Arthur’s culinary arts class at Rappahannock County High School and the girl scouts.
Bob Benyo and his business, Premier Sports Fields, lent the Pantry a trailer to store the packed Thanksgiving boxes. Mimi said, “I was so grateful to have the use of Bob’s box trailer. It worked perfectly to store all the packed boxes and to serve the people as they arrived. Thank you, Bob!”
Meat donations were amazing last month. One-thousand forty-two lbs of venison came in through Hunters for the Hungry and from hunters whose deer were processed at no cost to them through Rappahannock County’s program. (The County will pay Manfred Call to process deer donated to the Pantry. Hunters can call Manfred on his cell phone – 540 522-2896 – to make arrangements to meet him at his barn. Manfred owns Muskrat Haven. The road to his barn is off Cedarbreak Lane, just west of Muskrat Haven on 211.)
A Flint Hill farm contributed 444 lbs of beef. Pantry freezers were so full that much of the venison and beef had to be stored at Reynolds Memorial Baptist Church in Sperryville.
Catholic Charities of the Arlington Diocese brought in 1,224 lbs of canned and boxed food in November.
Last month’s Sing-a-long at Trinity Episcopal Church was a huge hit and a ton of fun, by all reports. It netted $1,300 for the Pantry.
Regular Saturday volunteer Ce Pike donated $1,000 to the Pantry in honor of the women of “Loudoun Valley #70 Walk to Emmaus” (www.lvemmaus.org).
Come on over to Washington Baptist Church this Saturday, December 4, from 2:00 – 5:00 at for a celebration of Pantry donors and volunteers, and Plant a Row gardeners. Bring a dish to share and, if you can, a donation of coffee, tea, cocoa mix, nuts or dried fruit for the Pantry.
Kathy Eggers
