Where Does Our Food Come From?

The vast majority of the food distributed from our pantry continues to come from the New Hampshire Food Bank located in Manchester. We have an active network of volunteers with trucks going to the Food Bank usually once a week. We are collaborating with the Hannaford Supermarket in Ossipee to receive food donations twice a week which include meat, bakery, dairy, and produce. In 2017 we received one to two tons of food monthly, January through September, from this very important source. In addition, we receive deliveries from USDA six times a year; the most recent delivery was 100 cases of food. These three sources are very important in helping us keep costs down and our food supplies adequate. As a three-day emergency food pantry, we provide nine meals to each individual once a week at a cost of 35 cents per meal. Food is purchased from Hannaford and Lovell Lake Food Center as necessary to keep up the stocks.

Other sources are also very important to us, notably the area churches, McKenzie’s Farm, the Boy Scouts, schools, post office and community members who drop off food either once a year in a major drive or all year long on a mostly weekly basis.

In 2016, we served families 188 over the two holiday periods with boxes of food containing frozen turkeys or hams, fresh produce and frozen pies.

Organic Garden

Lead by organic gardener, Frank Frazier, our garden had a banner year providing recipients with healthy greens, tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, cucumbers, squash, rhubarb and the raspberries. With the help of Liberty Mutual employees, we now have a composting system.