Volunteers, volunteers and more volunteers! It’s the Food Pantry board of directors and other community members who work tirelessly to make sure that no one in the Boothbay region goes hungry.

In these difficult winter months, when seasonal work is scarce, the Food Pantry on average serves as many as 118 families, or 288 individuals, in any given month.

These are folks who might work in the summer, but have no steady income in the winter. Or they have just lost their job; or a family member gets sick and can’t work and the wife is staying home to take care of five children. The pantry serves many seniors living on Social Security alone. Whatever the reason, statistics show that more than 10 percent of the population in the Boothbay Region now live below the poverty line, and therefore qualify for help from the Food Pantry. And the numbers are growing. In 2013, the pantry served 12 percent more than in 2012.

Board of directors

That means lots of work for the nonprofit organization run by an all-volunteer board of directors. Current directors are: Nancy Adams, Richard Annino, Ken Batchelor, Laurie Bean, David Butterworth, Bawn Clifton, Diane Crocker, Dick Crocker, Fleet Davies, Doreen Dun, Cindy Holton, Karen Keyes, Jeff Keyes, Barbara Lally, Susan Landemare, Jane Lunt, Helen Meserve, Ursula Smith, Tom Wilson, Mary Tilton and Betsy Wing.

Co-presidents Fleet Davies and Tom Wilson do much of the heavy lifting, literally and figuratively.

Weekly duties

Wilson and his wife Cathy go weekly to local groceries to buy canned goods and other packaged supplies to stock the shelves. That involves trips in his truck to Brunswick, Thomaston, Biddeford or Lewiston, wherever the prices are lowest that particular week. The Wilsons shop for the best buys, and then heave those heavy boxes into the truck and head back to the Congregational Church, the Food Pantry’s home (thanks to the church which allows the Food Pantry to occupy space in its downstairs fellowship hall). At the church, it’s a matter of getting the boxes inside, unpacking and hoisting the goods up on the shelves. Not an easy task for anyone, even Wilson, a man of strong will and stronger arms.

Every Thursday and Friday, fresh produce, bread and meat must be picked up at Hannaford, which graciously donates its excess perishables to the pantry. Wilson is there again, with his banana boxes, hefting them into the car and over to the pantry. Hannaford also supplies clients with bread, eggs, milk and butter, supplied through a voucher system funded by the Food Pantry.

Meanwhile, Davies is handling paperwork, fundraising, grant writing, relations with Hannaford, answering emergency calls from clients, writing guidelines, organizing meetings, assisting in purchasing food in the winter, and in the summer, dealing with the Community Garden and the Farmer’s Market.

Thanks to a grant from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, the Food Pantry offered vouchers to clients all last summer so that they could buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and other home-cooked items for their families.

Pantry volunteers

Every Friday, year-round, a group of volunteers arrives at 11 a.m. to set up the tables for fresh produce, and open the pantry. At noon, one director registers the clients and writes out the staple vouchers in the fellowship hall, where clients wait their turn to go into the pantry. Inside the pantry itself, two other directors help clients choose their canned goods and meat, packing it all in bags. A third volunteer mans the grocery carts, and helps clients get the food to their cars. And finally, there’s the all-important cleaning up between 2 and 4 p.m., depending on the number of clients served that day. Volunteers clean off the produce tables, fold them for storage, and sweep the floor, ah yes, all that, too. Remember, the church uses the fellowship hall on weekends for Sunday school and other events.

On average, it takes 190 volunteer hours per month to make the pantry work. But there is always a need for a few more volunteers who have some time to spare, and especially those who are able to help with the physical work involved. If you are interested, please contact Richard Annino, volunteer coordinator, at 207-315-2002.

Generous donors

All of this costs money and that’s where the rest of the community comes in. While the volunteers do the work, they couldn’t run the Food Pantry without all the generous donations received from foundations, churches, civic groups and the many, many individual donors who never forget to send a check, large or small, to keep the Food Pantry going.

In December, we received donations from 101 individuals, some Christmas gifts in honor of others, but mostly just gifts from folks who wanted to reach out to feed the hungry.

On Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 2, churches in the area are collecting canned goods and non-perishable food or donations for the Food Pantry. As you prepare to feast for the game, remember those who have no food and dig deep on this special Sunday.

For those who always remember the Food Pantry, the volunteers are forever grateful. Their work could not be done without donor support.

Information for clients

The Boothbay Region Food Pantry is located in the lower level of the Congregational Church at 125 Townsend Avenue, Boothbay Harbor (enter through the parking lot on Eastern Avenue). The pantry is open each Friday (except the day after Thanksgiving) from noon to 2 p.m. Clients will not be admitted to the pantry waiting area until 11:30 a.m. Clients wishing only to pick up fresh fruit, vegetables and bread supplied by Hannaford may do so, but only after all other clients have been served.

The Good Shepherd Food Mobile will be in the parking lot of the Congregational Church on Friday, Jan. 24 from noon to 2 p.m. All residents of the Boothbay Region needing free food to put healthy meals on the table are invited to avail themselves of this service, generously funded by the Doree Taylor Charitable Foundation, Bank of America, NA, Trustee. You do not have to be a food pantry client to take advantage of the food mobile. Please bring your own bags.

The regular food pantry will be open for clients, as usual, from 12 to 2 p.m.

If you have a food emergency, call the Congregational Church at 207-633-4757 during normal office hours, or, at other times, call Fleet Davies at 207-350-4077 or Tom Wilson at 207-633-4952.