December Pantry Highlights
Last year’s monthly average donations to the Food Pantry were almost twice the 2009 monthly average. Every category of food was way up— vegetables, eggs, milk, store-bought food, meat, even pet food. The only exception was fruit.
We were just getting started in 2009. The Pantry opened in June of that year. The year 2010, on the other hand, was a full twelve months.
More donations are important because the number of families served continues to rise—269 families in 2009 and 287 in 2010.
The 2010 Census assumes 2.5 persons per family, an estimate that is probably low for Pantry clients. If the total Rappahannock County population is 7,373, as the Census assumes, the pantry serves almost ten percent of our residents.
December highlights included ham dinners at Christmas for more than 200 families, donated by Bill Fletcher’s Hampton Foundation. In addition, the local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation contributed turkeys and other goodies.
Hal Hunter