Food pantries getting busier

[ Originally published on: Thursday, November 26, 2009 ]

Forty-six-year-old Jannet Cruz recently was picking up food for herself and her three sons at the Orange Food Pantry.

''I would be in so much trouble,'' without access to the pantry, said Cruz. ''They help me out a lot here.''

Cruz and other pantry clients can pick up food once a month. This week, the pantry was giving out ham, rice, spaghetti, tomato sauce, tuna, macaroni and cheese, green beans, corn, frozen blueberries, cereal, juice, peanut butter, bread, instant mashed potatoes, stuffing, potatoes, onions, soup and chips for families of three or more.

The pantry is run by the Franklin County Community Meals Program. The program also serves free meals in Greenfield, Turners Falls and Orange.

Director Amy Clarke said she is expecting the pantry will give enough food to feed a person for three to five days to about 14,000 people this year. Last year, the pantry supplied this amount of food to 13,492 people.

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