Saturday, May 9, 2009

Food Pantries Still Have Lots of Clients

Since it seems that it's truly spring (or early summer) now, perhaps some of you are cleaning out the corners of your homes and cupboards. Around the winter holidays, food pantries get a lot of attention, but the needs remain very similar all year round. If you do happen to find an extra jar of peanut butter, some cans of beans, cereal, pasta, and so on...consider dropping it off at one of the food pantries near you. I know, it may feel silly to walk in with two cans of black beans and a box of rice, but if a bunch of people do that - not so silly. Get a box from the people who just moved in up the block and fill it up with your friends' stuff. ;)

The line for a Thursday afternoon food pantry on 4th Avenue between 46th and 47th Street is always around the corner even before the 4:30 PM start time. See previous posts about food pantries in our area here, and check out below for suggestions of where to drop off food stuffs. (CFL will take household items, but I don't believe they still take clothes.)

Food Bank NYC has a search engine you can use to find food services near you.

The Center for Family Life accepts food for its food pantry located at 5505 4th Avenue. (The pantry is open from 10 AM to 3 PM, so before or after that is best.

The Salvation Army, at 520 50th Street also provides food to those in need.

Another local food pantry is at Trinity Lutheran Church. The office is at 411 46th Street (corner of 4th Avenue). Trinity accepts donations of non-perishable foods Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM.

Iglesia Luz del Mundo at 4616 4th Avenue accepts food, but I'm not sure of hours. I haven't been able to contact anyone. Perhaps you'll have better luck: Hilda Lopez at 347-583-4292.

1 comment:

david miller said...

I read this post with interest. I am based in Finland which is essentially a Lutheran country. Food pantries are a great idea and I wish we did more of it here. A lot of the community support in Finland has been targeted towards alcoholics since it is, alas, a national shame. That beeing said, our local pastor runs a very good soup kitchen/community center just near my home. My wife drops in spare cake whenever she has a baking session. She does amazing Pula (typical Finnish morning bread) and always bakes an extra pan-load for the Lutheran community center. I wish that we followed your model more in our part of Europe.