Franklin Food Pantry says “Thanks to You”

Thanks to your generosity, the Franklin Food Pantry will be stocked to serve our neighbors this summer. The recent “Calling for the Pantry” phone-a-thon netted just over $11,000 and the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive coordinated with the US Post Office generated just over 5,000 pounds of food and non-food items. “We are relieved to fill the empty shelves and know many of these donations will help us through the summer,” said Anne Marie Bellavance, Executive Director.

Volunteers for the Franklin Food Pantry reached out to talk with 2,400 households in Franklin, MA as part of the first annual phone fundraising effort. Bellavance said, “We were not sure what it (the phone-a-thon) would be like. The phone conversations the volunteers had were priceless. The feedback provided will help us.”

Dean College graciously provided use of their phone bank as their contribution to this event. More than 40 volunteers made the phone calls spread over several time periods from April 30 through May 3, 2011. The unpaid volunteers announced that this was the first annual phone call fundraising effort for the Food Pantry.

The Food Pantry will be able to provide more than 55,000 meals with the money raised. They are able to do this by leveraging resources with the Greater Boston Food Bank and providing fresh produce from Grateful Farm in Franklin. The fresh produce will be available during June through October for Franklin Food Pantry clients.

On Saturday, May 14, Franklin participated in the annual “Stamp Out Hunger” campaign, the largest food drive in the US. Jeanne Jackson, Franklin’s USPS Postmaster, was on site at the Food Pantry observing the parade of 20 postal vehicles. As the carriers worked their routes delivering mail to residences in Franklin, they picked up bags of food and non-food items that had been left for them at the mailboxes. The carriers stopped at the Food Pantry to drop off the bags before heading back to the Post Office.

Volunteers worked efficiently to unload the trucks as they arrived. Once unloaded, the bags were weighed, the items were checked for safety and quality, sorted into food and non-food categories and stocked onto the shelves. Only 10% of the items received were put aside due to safety and quality concerns. This is a marked improvement over 2010 when there was 28% waste from expired “use by” dates.

Thanks to

• Dean College for the use of the phone bank
• The residents for their contributions of food and money
• The volunteers for their time and effort
• The Post Office carriers for their time and effort

Thanks to you for helping put food on the table this summer for your Franklin neighbors!

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Stamp Out Hunger web site: http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/thankyou.aspx

Franklin Food Pantry web site http://franklinfoodpantry.org/