Food pantries appeal for summertime donations

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Chris Thomas of Troy sorts boxes of food items in a trailer at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in December.

Food pantries across the Capital Region are gearing up for the leaner summer months ahead, when donations typically drop off and demand increases as food-insecure children on break from school turn to other sources for their morning and midday meals.

“Life just gets expensive over the summer,” said Susan Lintner, director of agency and program services for the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. Lintner said food-insecure families who are used to providing the evening meal throughout the school year now must provide up to two additional meals for one or more children over the summer.

“An additional two-thirds of their meals are now placed on their parents’ already stretched plates, and that’s where it gets difficult,” Lintner said of food-insecure children. “Food- insecure” children are defined as those who do not know where their next meal is coming from.

In Schenectady County, the food bank estimates that over 6,300 children are food-insecure. That number climbs to over 10,000 children in Albany County and 7,500 in Saratoga County. Fulton County has 2,650 food-insecure children and Montgomery County has 2,750.

Lintner said the food bank sees a 10 percent increase in demand over the summer months. And while there are food programs that seek to stand in the gap while school is not in session, such programs are intermittent and face challenges in reaching children in need.

“Getting kids to the summer food-service program sites is often a struggle,” said Betsy Dickson, the Regional Food Bank’s director of children’s programs.

Dickson said there are mobile food sites and funds to transport children in certain programs, “but that’s really hard to coordinate and sustain.”

“Food pantries try their best to fill that void and are often the first stop for families in need,” said Dickson. “But oftentimes they just can’t provide enough resources over the summer months.”

Dickson said food pantries throughout the region are especially looking for kid-friendly meal donations like macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and canned chicken and tuna.

“Basic items that families don’t need a lot of ingredients to assemble and are kid-friendly will make a big impact,” she said.

Some food pantries are taking a proactive stance to the annual donation drought, holding food drives and other events to make up for any summer shortage.

Samuel Goldenstein, vice president of the Scotia Rotary, said the group is spearheading a food drive called “Food for Neighbors.”

Well over a dozen businesses and organizations in the Scotia-Glenville area are serving as collection points for non-perishable food goods, personal hygiene items and paper products. Those include Gabriel’s Supermarket, Goldstock’s Sporting Goods, both branches of 1st National Bank of Scotia, and the Scotia-Glenville Senior Citizens, among others.

Goldstein said donations of food at the Scotia-Glenville Food Pantry seem to be seasonal and tend to dry up in the late spring and summer.

“The contributions they receive dwindle this time of year,” said Goldstein. “They get a lot of holiday donations that sustain them for the first half of the year, but donations seem to drop off over the warmer months.”

Jaime Williams, assistant director of the Franklin Community Center in Saratoga Springs, sees the same dynamic play out at the center’s food pantry.

“We attribute it to people who over the summer are operating on a different time schedule, they’re on vacation, kids are out of school, it’s kind of a break from your normal world, and giving might not be at the forefront of your mind,” said Williams.

Williams added that the food pantry at the center also takes in a lot of their donations from local churches, which see a decrease in attendance over the summer months. The center, she said, is currently looking for breakfast cereals, oatmeal, peanut butter and tuna fish.

Those looking to help counteract the annual summer shortage can also participate in the 25th annual food drive organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers. To donate during the event, which is officially called the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, simply place a can or box of non-perishable food next to your mailbox on Saturday, May 13.

Food is gathered and sorted by letter carriers and will be donated to the food pantry at Schenectady Inner City Ministries.