Hunger is daily struggle for some families
It’s that time of year when the Shepherd’s Pantry’s annual Holiday Fundraiser is again in full swing. For the past 15 years, volunteers at the Shepherd’s Pantry, located at the Long Plain United Methodist Church at 1215 Main Street in Acushnet, are asking the generous public for their continued financial support in keeping the pantry in business so they can continue in helping out the less fortunate in our area. The volunteers’ main objective is to never turn away needy individuals who come looking for help each Saturday between the hours of 9 to 11 a.m. And thanks to the kindness of the Long Plain United Methodist Church, we have a place that individuals can come and receive this help.
As you know, hunger is a daily struggle for some families. Even though some of these families have two wage earners, it is sometimes not enough for them to be self-sufficient in feeding themselves or their loved ones. This is where the Shepherd’s Pantry and its many dedicated volunteers and donors, make a difference for families like these who are struggling to make ends meet. This hand-out is a safety net that these families have come to rely on, appreciate and be thankful for.
To help you better understand what this pantry does, I’ve asked Blanche Pepin, its administrator, to give me some statistics of what the pantry has provided for the area’s needy so far in 2018. More than 3,242 families have been served, (that’s 11,500 individuals), of which 3,400 were children, and $47,000 has been spent to purchase food. And finally, for all those individuals who came looking for help, 175,400 items of food were distributed.
So you see folks, the pantry’s very existence and success depends largely on all who can contribute any amount of monetary donations and/ or volunteerism to help the pantry run smoothly. For those who would like to donate non-perishable food items year round, the kind folks from the Millicent Library and Stop & Shop supermarket, both located in Fairhaven, are nice enough to have a donation bin for your convenience.
You can send your tax-deductible contribution to the Shepherd’s Pantry at P.O. Box 760, Fairhaven, MA 02719. And as always, together, we can make a difference for the less fortunate. God bless.
Gerry Payette, Fundraising Coordinator
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