Manchester Food Pantry Stocked Up for the Holidays
Baking supplies are a popular item at Manchester’s CRC Food Pantry.
With Thanksgiving just few days away, and the holiday season fast upon us, it’s natural to wonder about the less fortunate citizens of our community. And even though the need for food and shelter is felt all year round, the coming of winter and the generous spirit of the season still focus our attention.
It is happy news, therefore, to hear that Manchester’s families in need of food have a well-stocked food pantry right here in the village to turn to.
The civic spirit in Manchester, “is huge,” according to Laura Seyfried, the director of Manchester’s Community Resource Center. “People are so generous. There are so many people, and they care enough to take the time.” And Seyfried should know. While she has only been the director of the CRC for 2 and 1/2 years, the organization has been serving the community for a generation.
The Community Resource Center (CRC) was founded in the late 1980’s when one of the major factories in town closed down, leaving scores of Manchester families without work, and without a place to turn. Initially created to help these families find work, it quickly became clear that these families, and other families in need in the Manchester School District, needed more than just job placement services. Many services have been added over the years, but a large core mission of the CRC is its food pantry. The pantry is located next to the office of the CRC in the Ackerson Administrative Building at 410 City Road, in the village.
Director Seyfried is proud to say that every month of the year, Manchester citizens, churches, civic groups, school groups and clubs all step up to keep that food pantry well-stocked. The food pantry serves, on average, 50 families a month, and over the course of the year distributes a total of $20,000 worth of food, cleaning supplies and necessities. Not only is Manchester blessed with such a vibrant food pantry, but the CRC is complimented by Manchester Family Services, a second food assistance group, which distributes (by Seyfried’s estimate) another $20,000 dollars a year worth of necessities. This means that addition to the support offered by state and federal assistance, Manchester’s struggling families receive a total $40,000 in generosity from the community, a statistic that should make every citizen proud.
Most other benefits (like food stamps) don’t cover cleaning supplies. And yet everyone needs to clean their house!
The food pantry is open week days, and is available to any household in the school district that makes 200% of poverty. For a single person (an elderly widow for example), the income cut off is a gross annual income of $22,980. For a single parent with one child, it’s $31,020. A family of four can make up to $47,100 and still qualify; while a family of six can make up to $63,180. When a household first arrives, Seyfried will help them assess their need and review to see if they qualify for, or already receive, any other state or federal benefits that could help them make ends meet.
According to the US Census, 56% of Manchester’s 2934 households make less than $50,000 a year. While only about 50 families patronize the CRC food pantry regularly, Seyfried suspects many more families in our community would qualify for help, and she hopes that anyone struggling will reach out to the CRC for assistance.
The CRC food pantry operates as a store, stocked with food, cleaning supplies, and other necessities. Families are invited to shop twice every month, and can find fruit, vegetables, meat, cereal, baking supplies, baby diapers, shaving cream, deodorant. The selection is impressive, filling most of what once was a high school classroom.
For Seyfried, the main tension in the food pantry is between what people always need, and the urge people have to celebrate the holidays even though times are tough. The pantry always needs apple juice, cold cereal, baby diapers and cleaning supplies. Families need these sorts of things day by day, week by week. But they aren’t fun. By contrast, when Thanksgiving and Christmas come, everyone wants to bake. People want to make cookies, and pies, and cakes. And when a family has very little, a holiday treat is especially important.
Keep giving Manchester. There are many in our community in need, and we should feel proud that we do so well to meet those needs.
A well-stocked food pantry available to needy families is a sign of a generous and prosperous community.
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