Pantry opens second season of offering food for needy

CHERRYFIELD — The Tri-town Food Pantry will open its second winter season of offering subsidies of food to the needy on Tuesday, Nov. 26, in Room 10 at the Cherryfield Inn.

According to Cynthia Kelley of Cherryfield, the pantry was opened on Feb. 25, 1991, to help meet the basic needs of people in the tri-town area of Cherryfield, Harrington and Milbridge. Although the pantry was intended to serve that primary service area of western Washington County, people came from other communities. “When the pantry closed on May 25, it had served 1,200 people,” she said. “Some came from Lubec. We had a lot from Steuben and Unionville, Addison, Columbia, Columbia Falls, Addison, Jonesport and Beals.”

The pantry will be open from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Tuesday. “We’ll never turn anyone away, even if they are from Portland. We want to take the strain off people by not having them fill out forms. But we do ask them what town they are from and how many people are in their family,” she said.

Volunteers will be on hand to help people shop and pack their staple foods into shopping bags.

Tri-town receives part of its non-profit income from sponsoring public dinners, yard sales and by selling hotdogs on the street. Other sources of support come from Hannaford Brothers, and the Good Shepard Food Pantry in Lewiston.

Kelley said referrals are also made, under some conditions. Needy people have, at times, been referred to the Loaves and Fishes food pantry at Ellsworth.

“We realize that these are hard times, and we wanted to give the needy families a boost before Thanksgiving,” she said.