Food Pantry Anniversay Letter

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Dear Friends of the Camp Friendship Food Pantry -

Three years ago—today—we opened our doors for the first time. 

Masked, distanced, uncertain who would show up and how much we'd distribute, a team of volunteers pulled together within the familiar community venue of Camp Friendship, about 10 weeks into the pandemic, and served 60 families.

Three years later, we're still going. And the need is still growing.

This past Saturday, the volunteer-run and community-supported pantry served nearly 600 families: more than 500 neighbors who lined up to select fresh produce and healthy pantry items on-site, and more than 50 homebound neighbors to whom volunteers delivered bags of food for the week to come.

Nearly 600 families. All supported by donations from our community, which is why we're asking: In honor of our 3rd anniversary, can you become one of our 300 monthly sustainers today?

Over the past three years, the Camp Friendship Food Pantry has been an essential program that provides neighbors with food, community, and dignity—as well as back-to-school supplies, holiday toys, and so much more. We partner with the 5th Avenue Committee on an English class, and with local organizations in distributing hundreds of turkeys and chickens at Thanksgiving. And it's funded, fueled, and expanded by all of you—hundreds of volunteers, thousands of individual donors, and dozens of community partners, from the folks who make recurring donations each month to those who bring Fresh Direct bags full of pasta boxes from local food drives.

As we mark our 3rd anniversary, we want to share with you more details on who we are supporting and you can support this work. Keep reading to learn more about:

  • Who we are serving

  • How you can contribute time, food, and money

  • Special events coming down the road

However, if you read no further, though, would you consider becoming a monthly donor so we can keep expanding the offerings of healthy food and community services we offer each week to our growing number of neighbors in need?

And if you are a family with students in city schools, your Pandemic-EBT card ("P-EBT") may have just been refilled! If you are someone who can afford it, you can use that money to buy food to donate to the panty—or use that card for your own purchases, and donate the equivalent to allow the pantry to expand what we buy and serve more neighbors in need.

Here are a few pictures of our community of neighbors and volunteers in action:

1. Let's look at the numbers

Weekly:

We are averaging 400-420 visitors at the door, plus 55-60 deliveries. However, that number is growing and this weekend, more than 500 folks came through the doors.

Monthly:

The first graph represents our monthly food reach. It includes families that live in the households we serve, including deliveries. As you can see, we fed more than twice as many people this year than last year. And it's growing.

Demographics:

In the second graph, you'll see a sample from one particular day of service, which is representative of who we are serving. 

Anecdotally:

 The trends in the world at large are reflected in who we serve. Specifically, we've seen an uptick in recently arrived immigrants-- namely from Eastern Europe (Russian and Ukraine) and Latin America. Just to be clear, we only know they are recently arrived by talking to them, we don't require/track/keep citizenship information. We know inflation, the cuts to food benefits (SNAP/WIC), migration patterns have contributed to the increase.

(TRIE is the Task Force for Racial Inclusion and Equity. Usually, the mayor's office gives priority to groups located in high needs areas. We are not located in such an area, but the community we serve is, in part. Food insecurity exists all over our city, regardless of zip code.)

2. Ways You Can Help

Donate funds. This is the most critical need. Individual donations from the community are a huge portion of our operating budget. As our offerings grow, so do our needs. And having folks donate monthly gives us the predictability to help us budget.


We make it easy—make a donation and click "Recurring" and you can give a small, meaningful amount each month.

Each week, we spend $3,000 on average—maybe you're in a position to sponsor a week on your own or with your community? Every bit helps. Truly.

What does this get? Well, a sample inventory of produce (not even counting the shelf-stable items from pasta to beans to jars of sauce to canned vegetables and so on) might include:

  • 500 lbs of spinach

  • 1500 ears of corn

  • 2000 pears

  • 1500 avocados

  • 500 boxes of strawberries

  • 1500 lbs of potatoes

  • 2500 heads of garlic

Use your P-EBT Card. The city has a program where it has dispersed funds to families with kids in city schools. You may have received these funds and not realized it. If you're in a position where you don't need the funds, you can put them to good use.

Donate food. We always accept food donations at Camp Friendship (339 8th Street) 6-7pm on Fridays or 8:30am-1:30pm on Saturdays, as well as at our Community Donation Tables around the neighborhood Saturdays 9:45-1:15.

Host a Fund Drive or a Food Drive. If your block, building, club, congregation, school, or group of friends want to do more, you can host a fundraising effort or food drive.

  • There are tools on our donation page that let you start your own fundraiser you can share with friends and family

  • If you organize a food drive, let us know! We can give you information you can print out and distribute, provide lists of the most needed items, and coordinate when you can bring the food by. We love to thank volunteers and partners and show them how the pantry operates.

  • We host Community Donation Tables every Saturday. If you want to help staff those for a 2 hour shift one weekend, we'll happily sign you up!

Volunteer. The pantry is entirely volunteer run—and we always welcome more help. Right now, our greatest needs are:

  • Drivers who can deliver to homebound neighbors, Saturdays around noon. It takes about 90-120 minutes and you must have your own car.

  • Tablers to help at the Community Donation Tables: Shifts at 9:30 and 11:30 every Saturday.

  • Have other skills you think we might need? Just let us know!

3. Special Events. We already know a few dates later this year—chances to help run donation drives or get the word out.

- August 26 - Back-to-school backpack give-away

- November 18 - Turkey Giveaway

- December 17 - Holiday Toy Giveaway (with a drive leading up to it)

If you're in a position to help donate backpacks, turkeys, or toys, to help fundraise for the effort, or to put collection boxes in your school, place of work, or favorite gathering spots, let us know.

Thank you. It is thanks to thousands of folks that the first three years of the Camp Friendship Food Pantry have gone as successfully as they have—allowing us to learn, adjust, grow, and serve.

If you can, become one of the 300 sustainers today—for just a recurring donation of $10/month, you'll help help us build an even stronger foundation for the work ahead.

—Justin, Lisa, Soni, Astri, Madge, Tony, and the Camp Friendship Food Pantry Team