$115K Goal Set To Benefit Family Pantry

HARWICH – Like Bing Crosby songs, turkey leftovers and pumpkin spice everything, Helping Neighbors is a sure sign of the holiday season. And the Cape Cod Chronicle’s annual campaign to support the Family Pantry of Cape Cod kicks off today.

 Between now and New Year’s Day, we’ll be challenging our readers to give generously to the Family Pantry, helping to make sure that all area residents have access to nutritious food and decent clothing. This holiday season, our fundraising goal is set at $115,000, and thanks to pledges by generous donors, every dollar donated will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Each week, the paper will feature stories about the Pantry, the volunteers who keep it running, and the clients who rely on it to help ends meet. We’ll also be publishing a running list of donors with each week’s donation tally.

 “When times get tough, we lean on family,” Cape Cod Chronicle Publisher Henry C. Hyora said. “With the high cost of living on the Cape, times are pretty tough for a lot of people right now, and they’re leaning on the Family Pantry.”

 To be specific, about 15,000 distinct individuals rely on the Family Pantry to provide groceries and clothing items, and this year the Pantry is on track to distribute about 165,000 bags of groceries. That’s over four million pounds of healthy food, about 18 or 19 percent more than the Pantry provided in 2023.

 Large families visiting the Family Pantry can take home four big grocery bags filled with healthy, nonperishable food, along with a couple of additional bags with fresh vegetables and fruit, and bags of frozen meat and other proteins, eggs and dairy products and fresh baked goods. Consider how much a grocery order like that would cost in a supermarket, and then consider that most Family Pantry clients can come two or three times each month. That can free up money to pay for housing, medical expenses or other unforeseen costs.

 “If it’s a cold winter, they’ll hit high utility bills,” and the Pantry will be crowded with clients, Family Pantry Executive Director Christine Menard said. “It allows them to shift some of their resources to the electric bill, or the rent, or whatever else they’re facing,” she said. 

 People have always given generously to the Family Pantry, but 2024 hasn’t been the best year financially, Menard said. “This is the first year that we’ve really seen donations kind of slow down a little bit,” she said. That’s partly because the surge of generosity that the Pantry saw during the height of the pandemic has dried up. People are once again traveling and going to restaurants and spending money in a way they couldn’t when everyone was sequestered at home, and there was more discretionary money available to donate. At the same time, government benefits that helped families through the worst of COVID-19 have gone away, driving up the demand for the Pantry’s services.

 “The holiday season, that’s when most people do their year-end giving. Hopefully they think about us, because we’re still feeding 15,000 people a year,” Menard said. 

 The Family Pantry is also going all-out to help its clients enjoy the holiday season. On Sunday, Pantry volunteers handed out 600 frozen turkeys and bags with all the fixings for a holiday feast. Another 500 or 600 turkeys will also go to organizations that partner with the Pantry, like local councils on aging. Then, next month, the Pantry will hold its annual Toy Day, giving out huge bags of holiday gifts that parents can then wrap and put under the tree.

 The Cape Cod Chronicle began Helping Neighbors in 2004, when readers gave just over $11,265 to support the Pantry. The fundraising goal has increased steadily, and in 2017 the Chronicle launched a companion fundraiser in the summertime, allowing seasonal residents and visitors to do their part for the Pantry. If this holiday Helping Neighbors campaign meets its goal, Cape Cod Chronicle readers will have something big to celebrate.

 “Thanks to our readers, we’re on track to bring Helping Neighbors over the $2 million mark since its inception,” Hyora said. “That’s a far greater contribution than The Chronicle ever could have made as a single small business. But Helping Neighbors is about coming together for a good cause, and our readers never let us down.”

 In next week’s edition, learn more about the Pantry’s strategy for providing clients with meals that are healthy, nutritious and appealing enough for even finicky kids to enjoy. 

To contribute to The Chronicle's Helping Neighbors campaign, click here. You can also mail a tax-deductible contribution to The Family Pantry, 133 Queen Anne Rd., Harwich, MA 02645, or call 508-432-6519 to donate by credit card.

HARWICH – In what Executive Director Christine Menard describes as one of the best days of the year at the Family Pantry of Cape Cod, volunteers gave out the ingredients for more than 700 complete turkey dinners Sunday, from frozen turkeys, vegetables, potatoes and stuffing to pies for dessert. 

 Turkey Day isn’t just an act of kindness; it’s a logistical feat coordinated largely by retiring Warehouse Manager Jim O’Bara.

 “There were 87 clients lined up to start,” Menard said. “It took the volunteers 12 minutes to give each of them their turkey and all the fixings, which is pretty darned amazing. It was the longest line at the opening that I have seen in nine years.”

 Menard also thanked volunteer Ray Sacramone, who has coordinated the warehouse volunteers for years, as well as Pantry Trustee and local Realtor Paul Covell, who convinces a group of his friends each year to donate 175 turkeys. 

 “We really have so many amazing people to thank for making this day possible every year,” Menard said. “Everyone plays a part, from the bulk turkey donors, to the volunteers who work like mad just trying to keep up with the cardboard that is produced during the event. We could not do this without them,” she said.