716 Little Food Pantry

There have been several inquiries regarding the 716 Little Food Pantry bags being available for deliveries each week to the boxes thoughout the city. 

We (Gloria & Theresa), shop for groceries once a month.  Usually we spend about $400, sometimes more.  We purchase vegetables, soups, canned proteins, breakfast foods, easy meals and snacks by the case.  The majority of the products come 12 items to the case.

When we fill the bags, we provide two bags for each site.  After shopping we immediately fill 12 bags with a mixture of all the necessary items.  So, the 12 cans of soup from the case are quickly diminished by six at the first packing.  That goes the same for pasta sauce, peanut butter, etc.  One packing and our stock is reduced immediately.  You may wonder why we just don’t buy more groceries when we shop.  The answer is simple.  There are only two of us shopping.  We use two shopping carts and fill them to overflowing.  Then after checking out, we have to unpack the carts and load everything into our cars.  Our two cars are filled to the max.  When we get back to church everything must be unloaded and brought into the elevator, down to the lower level, down the halls to the far end and then each item must be shelved.  This is time intensive and physically tiring because it all needs to be done at once.

We need help and if you feel you can assist with unloading and shelving, we would greatly appreciate your efforts to be of service.  We have appreciated the assistance of Ken Miller on the occasions that he was able to help.  To everyone who has assisted in placing the bagged items in the boxes…thank you!!

We are able to shop due to our Outreach line in the church budget.  Donations have added up over the years, but as we make withdrawls each month the balance goes down.  We spend several hundred dollars each month, yet we only collect about $60 per month from outreach donations.  Times are hard for everyone, and we feel the pinch.

We can continue to provide food for the needy for quite some time, but we do feel that it is important to be good stewards of the funding provided for this use by spending wisely and being a part of the greater solution to feed God’s children rather than doing it all.  Taking care of each other is every person’s duty as a citizen of this planet.

It is important to know that Christ Episcopal Church is not solely responsible for filling the boxes.  Other groups, churches and private individuals also place items in the boxes.  Anyone can stop by a box and place one or more non-perishable food item inside.

Over the past few years our parishioners have provided food items or funding for thousands of products to feed our needy neighbors in Lockport.  You have also provided Christmas gifts, socks, scarves, mittens, hats and gloves for our holiday and winter projects.  We can’t that you enough for your ongoing support for the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF ITEMS CURRENTLY ACCEPTED AND NEEDED!!

This article is being written to answer your questions and to help you to understand our limited capabilities.  We are only asking for your understanding and possibly some assistance.

May God bless each of you abundantly as we continue to move forward in our endeavors to provide what we can for those in need.

Yours in Christ,

Gloria Bryant & Theresa McCabe