Food Pantry "Re-Opening" in Renovated Quarters

Partners with Ann Taylor on March 8, 9 to Restock After April ’07 Nor‘easter

by Ann LoBue

(March 5, 2008) The Larchmont-Mamaroneck Hunger Task Force has been waiting and watching as the flood-ravaged walls of its basement-level quarters have come down and the new ones have been built and decorated with bright, vibrant stripes of red and blue paint. Volunteers and clients are eagerly anticipating the re-opening of the Food Pantry in its renovated space, nearly one year after it was severely damaged in last April’s flood.

First graders in Elizabeth Dillon’s class at Murray Avenue School count cans of tuna fish they collected in February to donate to the Food Pantry. Grade-wide, a total of 600 cans was collected.

The renovation work began on February 1, 2008. The entire basement level of the Community Action Program Center on 134 Center Street in Mamaroneck was stripped to the studs and is being renovated to include a dedicated pantry storage room, a meeting room, additional storage and a large open meeting area for community use. The heating system has been replaced and new windows have been installed. When the renovation is complete, it will also include new stairs connecting the basement to the building’s first floor entryway, new sheetrock and paint, and bright, new linoleum tile floors.

Since last year’s flood, the Food Pantry has been operating out of a play shed in the CAP Center’s yard, which is ordinarily used by the Mamaroneck Child Development Center’s preschoolers. The shed is without any refrigeration or freezer storage for perishable food items. Once the renovation is complete, new equipment – including a refrigerator and freezer, stainless steel shelving, and storage bins purchased with help of a grant from a local family foundation -- will be installed in the Food Pantry’s new storage room.

The Food Pantry hopes to be operating out of the renovated basement in early April and plans to invite the community to an open house to celebrate its re-opening.

To help restock the Food Pantry’s new shelves, the local Ann Taylor store at 1919
Palmer Avenue in Larchmont is hosting a spring food drive in the store on Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9. The store will encourage participation by giving an immediate 15% discount coupon, for use on March 8 and 9, to all customers who make a donation of non-perishable food at the store.

This will be the third food drive to benefit the Food Pantry hosted by the local Ann Taylor and its manager, Carrie DiZenzo.

We are grateful for the ongoing support of the store, its manager and its customers,” said Carol Cauley, president of the Hunger Task Force. “We are currently serving approximately 230 local families in our bi-weekly food distribution – about the same number we served immediately after the flood and about a 25% increase over the number of families we served during the same period in 2006. We expect our numbers to remain where they are for a while. So, we need to garner every possible source of food to meet our clients’ needs.”

Since the holidays, food drives have been sponsored by the NY State United Teachers and Mamaroneck Federation of School Secretaries, Murray Avenue School first graders, Madeline Moskow’s (of Larchmont) fifth birthday party, and Tovia Rosner’s (of Scarsdale) 11th birthday celebration. Ms. Cauley says that each item donated through a local food drive “goes directly to a neighbor in need of support and means one less item the Food Pantry has to purchase, helping our funds go farther.”

Ann LoBue volunteers with the Hunger Task Force.

Front Page

Print This Page
Email this page