The Family Pantry Newsletter
Fall 2010
__________________________________________________
Judy Collins said it best with her song "Who Knows Where the Time Goes":
Can you believe that it is almost Thanksgiving again? The pantry volunteers certainly can tell because we are busier than ever. We are taking sign-ups for turkeys and preparing for the day that we distribute the turkeys and all the fixings. Once again the 5th graders from Holy Trinity School and the Student Council Members from D-Y High School will be assisting Director, Elizabeth Duggan to prepare the bags with all the fixings for distribution day. If anyone wants to help we can always use frozen turkeys. The Harwich High School Key Club led by Director Pete Moynagh just held its second annual food drive and delivered 80 turkeys and a ton of non-perishable food items to the pantry. In addition we have commitments from The Wayside Inn for 100 turkeys and Ruggies’s Restaurant for 10-15 more so we are on our way! Last year we gave out 700 turkeys between Thanksgiving and Christmas and we expect that number to be closer to 800 in 2010!
Allen Harbor Thanks for Giving Dinner: 
This year’s dinner was bigger and better than ever. The members of the club continue to amaze me with the incredible turkey dinner with all the fixings which they prepare for 200 people! A ton of food was collected from the attendees by Hank Jensen & Brian Dunphy who stood in the cold by the truck while the rest of us were inside with an adult beverage! Thank you again Allen Harbor Yacht Club!
Toy Program: 
Everyone knows what comes right after Thanksgiving and yes it is Christmas! Soon we will be asking clients to sign up their children ages 15 and younger for toys/gifts. So if anyone would like to help please bring new unwrapped toys/gifts to the pantry during our open hours. Joyce Simonis will be heading the toy program again this year so if anyone wants to help please see Joyce or Patty.
Part time Warehouse Manager: 
The Board of Directors has approved hiring a part time Warehouse Manager. The job will be posted shortly and the Human Resources Committee will be reviewing applications and interviewing candidates in January. The main responsibilities for this job will be managing & scheduling the warehouse volunteers, managing food inventory & managing building maintenance. If you are interested please let Mary, Patty or Director Kay Sacramone, who is the Chairman of the Human Resources Committee know of your interest.
Interior Building Renovations: 
The design work has been completed and at the November Board meeting the Directors will review the design and vote on sending the plans out to bid. It is hoped that the work would begin in the early Spring 2011.
Volunteer of the Year: 
As 2010 comes to a close please give some thought to the person you believe should be recognized as the Family Pantry Volunteer of the Year. The idea is to nominate a person who not just does their particular job well but someone who goes over and above doing many different things for the pantry.
New Team Leaders: 
Kathy Muller, who is a fairly new volunteer, has taken on the role of Team Leader for the Thursday Morning crew and she has done a great job starting up during the busiest time of the year.
Toni London & Mary Larkin have taken on the role as Co-leaders for the Thursday Evening crew. Mary is a long time volunteer and Trustee who is just back from the busy season of gardening and landscaping and Toni recently joined the Thursday evening crew and has graciously taken on the leadership role with Mary.
New Volunteers: 
Patty has done an outstanding job in bringing on new volunteers including several who are bilingual and able to help with some of our clients in their language.
The new volunteers are:
Tuesday AM: Kevin Sullivan
Tuesday PM: Lynn & Jim Estabrook
Thursday AM: Pat Gary, Devin Hessfeld, Kathy Kellog, Paola Sullivan, Pollianna Serreira, Paul Fisset, Jane Texeira-Henry
Thursday Afternoon: Barbara Flecktner, Mary Hackett, Floriano Pavao, & Kathy Preston
Thursday Evening: Joyce Gedraitis, Adam Marshall, Hope Our-Cleary & Marty Terrenzi
Saturday: Maureen Gerstberger, Ann Lorentzen, Timothy Osborn, Joan Perrone & Sue Young
Thrift Shop: Ruth Berger, Jackie Halligan, Joy Kalogeropoulus, Dorothy Loftus, Judi Mozzer, Gail Robinson
Fuel Assistance: 
We have begun taking fuel assistance applications and will be doing so through May 1st. The following volunteers are trained and ready to help:
Tuesday AM: Meg Cimini & Mary Kocot
Tuesday PM: Ron Armbruster & John Healy
Thursday AM: Kathleen Kelly, Pat Hirtle & Mary Ann Ryer
Thursday PM: David Ryer
Thursday Evening: Eleanor Casey, Beth Kastritis, & James Snyder.
Saturday: Chris Howard
SNAP (Food Stamp program): 
We process food stamp applications year round and have recently trained several additional volunteers. The following volunteers are trained and ready to help:
Tuesday AM: Meg Cimini & Rose Marie Maloney
Tuesday PM: John Healy & Kathy Phillips
Thursday AM: Mary Ann Ryer & Paola Sullivan
Thursday Afternoon: Mary Henry & David Ryer
Thursday Evening: Toni London & Kathy Mello
Saturday: Ginny Boelke & Chris Howard
Great gift idea: The Family Pantry Cookbook: 
Just in time for holiday gift giving our cookbook is on sale at the pantry as well as at Annie’s Book Store in Orleans, Cape Cup in Orleans, Second Glance Thrift Shop in Harwich Port, The Potted Geranium in West Harwich and the Red Cottage Restaurant in Dennis. Maisie Wall has done an incredible job with this project.
Translation support:
We now have a few volunteers who are available for translation support for our clients who may need a little help. We eventually plan to have all shifts covered and for now the following volunteers are glad to help:
Tuesday AM: Alice Saudade
Thursday AM: Paola Sullivan
Thursday Afternoon: Floriano Pavoa
Saturday: Joe Towle
Turkey Trot Golf Tournament: 
Director Sara Chase headed up this effort which is a joint event supporting The Family Pantry and Hands of Hope. Despite less than ideal weather on Friday November 5th the event brought in just under two thousand dollars for the pantry. Thank you, Sara!
Second Glance Thrift Shop: Open Tuesday – Saturday 10-4 located at 4 Cross Street Harwich Port:
We are back to our off-season schedule which means we are open Tuesday through Saturday 10AM to 4PM. We also will be open Friday night December 3rd from 6-9 for the annual Christmas in Harwich Port event. This is a great time to drop in & see what great values we have. We are also always looking for some high quality items for the shop. So if you are cleaning out closets think of us. We welcome clothing, jewelry, books, and small household treasures which must be brought to the pantry because space is very limited at the shop. We are also looking for a few key volunteers: one to help with jewelry research, a Team Leader for Saturday & an assistant Manager to help Lorraine with overall store management. What the heck – start at the top!Volunteer Handbook: 
Patty Watson has published a very nice Volunteer Handbook which gives volunteers, especially those who are new to the pantry, a lot of information about the pantry including a bit of our history and general policies. If you didn’t receive one please stop in the office and pick one up. With over 200 volunteers communication is sometimes difficult so the Volunteer Handbook is another way for us to communicate with all of the volunteers.
Bag A Month Ambassadors: 
This program was started five years ago with a goal of finding 100 Ambassadors who would contribute $25 a month which is the estimated value of a bag of groceries. We provide bills monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually via email or US Mail. Donations may also be made online through our website using a paypal account or credit card. So whichever method the donor prefers we will make it work! Two years ago we met our initial goal of 100 Ambassadors and are now looking to add another 100 by 2013! We are on our way to that goal with approximately 165 Bag A Month Ambassadors active in the program. If you are interested please contact us or just send your first donation with a note that it is for the Bag a Month Ambassador program.
Tax Deduction: 
It is getting on to that time of year too. We welcome donations of any amount and are grateful for the support. We can receive gifts of stocks as well as checks and cash. Donations can be made online on our website www.thefamilypantry.com or by sending a check to us in the mail. Many people choose to donate to The Family Pantry in memory or honor of someone else. In addition to sending a thank you letter to the donor we also send a note to the honoree or his or her family notifying them that the donation was made. Please also consider a bequest to The Family Pantry when making your estate plans.
Contact us at:
The Family Pantry
133 Queen Anne Rd.
Harwich, Ma. 02645
Tel 508 432-6519
Fax. 508 432-7083
Web. www.thefamilypantry.com
Email. manderson@thefamilypantry.com
and pwatson@thefamilypantry.com