Brownie Troop # 30345: Food Pantry visit

We walked our food donations over to the Trinity Church, where we met Theresa Murray-Clasen, director of the Just Basics Food Pantry. She gave us a tour and asked the girls what Philanthropy meant. She explained the difference between the Food Bank (really big) and Food Pantries (smaller). She asked them the difference between non-perishable and perishable food. The Food Pantry does accept perishable food from places such as: Panera Bread, Shaw's, Hunger Mountain Co-op and Manghi's. They also receive food from the Food Bank (in Barre) as well churches, food drives and from many individual donors. Theresa didn't mention that they also receive fresh produce and eggs from volunteers gleaning the Farmer's Market and local farms. (I know this, because I am a gleaner!) UES donated 600 lbs. of food this year and the high school donated 500 lbs. (Way to go, Union!!!) Efficiency Vermont donates light bulbs so people can cut down on their electric costs.

Just Basics Food Pantry serves: 72,000 meals per year; 5,000 people per year; 275 families per year. 75% are adults. 1/3 are children. Each shopping experience provides enough food for 2 weeks. Most people come once per month, some people they only see once or twice. This Food Pantry serves Middlesex, Worcester, Calais, East Montpelier and Montpelier.

Volunteers take the donations, weigh them, record the donor's name, address & weight of donation so Just Basics can send a thank you note and donors can be aware of how much they donated. Perishable food is put in refrigerators.

Shaw's donates shopping carts and baskets, so people can come in and feel like they are having a real shopping experience. Volunteers help sign shoppers into the shop. "They are really nice to everybody," Theresa shared.

Brownies weighed their donations (put in a postal box, then subtracted 2 lbs. for the weight of the box), recorded the weight and processed the food (put in right place on shop's shelves). They also went into a big room where there were boxes categorizing the type of food. This must be where larger donations go after they are weighed to get sorted. First, girls had to check the expiration dates. If the food is expired, it goes on the "Old Fogies table". If it isn't then, it gets sorted into the appropriate box. Our Brownies donated 32 pounds of food!!

This was an amazing learning experience for the girls and they were really engaged with the process! Thank you to Theresa!