February 11, 2025 Newsletter
A Look Back at 2024
First Parish Newbury Food Pantry is an all-volunteer pantry with the mission of alleviating food insecurity and providing opportunities for community residents to help their neighbors.
IN 2024 WE:
Served 815 Guests Weekly at the Pantry
Guests living or working in the seven communities we serve placed 14,324 food orders in 2024, obtaining food for their 34,620 family members during the year. Our guest roster in 2024 included 1580 family members in 623 households. About half the households included a senior over 65, and 22% of our guests were children. As in prior years, we delivered over half the food orders, providing a critical service to those without transportation. We started the year serving 671 guests each week and ended up serving 815 guests a week, an increase of 22%.
Donated 36,000 Hours to Assist Neighbors
At the end of 2024, we had a roster of 227 active volunteers. Of these, 75 joined us in 2024, and 107 have been volunteering with us for three or more years. In total, volunteers gave more than 36,000 hours of service in 2024. We continue to be one the highest volume users of Signup, the online scheduling tool we adopted in 2023.
Served 250 Students Weekly at Pantries in 9 Schools
Our pantries in local schools provide students in need with snacks and mini-meals to eat at school or take home. We started the year with pantries in all five schools in the Triton Regional School District. In 2024, we opened a pantry at River Valley Charter School, extending support to families in Newburyport and Merrimac, and collaborated with the Enrichment Center at Kelleher Circle in Newburyport, which offers after-school activities for children in subsidized housing. Later in the year, we expanded further by opening pantries at Upper Molin Elementary School and Nock Middle School in Newburyport and hope to partner with Newburyport High School to launch a pantry in 2025.
Distributed over 539,183 Pounds of Food in 2024
According to Project Bread’s conversion ratio, the food we distributed is equivalent to 449,320 meals. The majority of food, 60.7%, was purchased from or donated by the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), 7.5% was purchased locally, and 31.8% was donated by individuals or food drives sponsored by schools, churches, businesses, and local service and community organizations. Due to the range of items we receive, our guests can typically select from over 400 items.
Worked with Partners to Meet Critical Needs
- Salem Food Pantry - During much of 2024, the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), our major source of food, faced a shortage of storage space and warehouse workers. Much of the food was only available in full pallets, which we didn’t have space to store. As a result, the amount of food we could receive was reduced. The Salem Food Pantry stepped in by ordering full pallets of food to be shared with local pantries. Today, we continue to pick up additional fresh produce and canned items from their cross-dock.
- Seacoast Regional Food Hub – Since early fall, we have been able to pick up our weekly GBFB orders from the Seacoast Regional Food Hub operated by Our Neighbors’ Table in Salisbury instead of driving to Salem or Amesbury for them. The cross-dock at the HUB has also enabled us to receive four additional orders a year. In addition, Our Neighbors’ Table rents their panel trucks and van to us for pick-up of GBFB orders in Salisbury and Salem and delivery of groceries to more than 180 households on Fridays.
- Nourishing The North Shore – Nourishing the North Shore continues to provide us with locally grown fresh produce when it is in season. This supplements the produce we buy from the GBFB and local markets, often providing a greater variety than otherwise available. During 2024, we continued our summer outside Farmers’ Market, a highlight for guests who enjoy selecting their own locally grown produce.
- Greater Newbury Elder Pet Fund – Many of our guests consider their pets essential to their well-being but have difficulty affording their food and care. The Pet Fund, a partner since 2017, provides guests with free pet food, which they request in their online order.
Expanded Storage Space in our Building
Due to the continued increase in the number of guests we serve and the expansion of the school pantry program, in 2024, we built a 20’ x 39’ addition, providing 780 square feet of additional storage space, including a walk-in freezer and a walk-in refrigerator. With this additional storage space, we now take advantage of large donations and discounted bulk purchases. We have also adjusted our workflow to take advantage of the extra space and, with the help of a volunteer consultant, optimized the flow of activities, organization of supplies, and placement of work tables.
Recovered Food From Schools, Businesses, and Pantry Operations
Each week that school is in session, our volunteers collect unused fruit, vegetables, milk, sandwiches, juices, and snacks that are still able to be used but, by regulation, would have to be discarded. Currently, we are working with Newbury Elementary, Newburyport Public Schools, Salisbury Elementary, and Pentucket High School. In 2024, the program recovered 16,710 pounds of food that would have been discarded. We are always looking for ways in which we can recover perfectly good food that would end up in landfills. We currently pick up surplus food from several local restaurants and bakeries. At the end of each week, we take steps to ensure that any food that won’t keep until the next Pantry Day is distributed to local halfway houses and, when unsuitable for humans, to farms that use it for feed.
Fine Tuned New Financial and Inventory/Order Management Systems
After going live with the Oracle Netsuite financial system and Pantrysoft order management and inventory system in 2023, we spent most of 2024 improving processes, building redundancy for vacationing volunteers, and fine-tuning reporting. Each system has enabled us to improve efficiency and effectiveness as we continue to serve large increases in guests.
Selected for Participation in Food Nutrition Study
We are one of 30 food pantries selected to participate in a two-and-a-half-year Be Well Study sponsored by Mass General Hospital and the Greater Boston Food Bank. This work focuses on food pantries helping guests make healthier food choices by identifying healthier foods based on how much saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars each item has. Our online ordering system identifies the rating for each item, helping guests with their food choices.
Supported Generously by the Community
Throughout 2024, our community was tremendously and consistently generous. Donations have come to us from across the community and beyond - from individuals and organizations, from guests, volunteers, and others who know or have recently learned about our mission and activities. In 2024, we received financial support from 217 individuals and 34 organizations.
Built Recognition as a Critical Community Resource
Through press coverage and updates to councils on aging, churches, and local service organizations, we continued to build our organization’s recognition. We also used posters, our website (2700 views monthly), Facebook (15,420 people), and Instagram (14,628 people) posts to share information about our services and activities. Our enthusiastic volunteers organized, staffed, and promoted activities across the community in support of the pantry, including a concert at Maudslay Arts Center, monthly dinners at Loretta’s, the Byfield Car Show, the Turkey Classic Golf Tournament, two Underground Comedy shows at the Grog, and gift wrapping at Henry Bear’s Park at Christmas time.
We continued to speak before local service organizations and received excellent press coverage about our school pantry program, our food recovery in local schools, and the challenges we faced as guest numbers grew. We continued outreach to members of the Board of Selectmen/Councilors for the seven towns we serve to keep them informed about the number of food requests we receive in their communities.
LORETTA FUNDRAISER
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 starting at 5PM
Our Loretta fundraiser continues… Wednesday, February 12. Starting at 5 pm, Loretta will donate part of the proceeds to the Pantry. Plan on dinner out (take out or eat in). You'll see a lot of familiar faces as the community turns out to support our work. We suggest that you make reservations in advance.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
As our work has expanded to help more neighbors in our community, our need for volunteers has increased. Volunteer opportunities include calling our guests to take their orders on Wednesday, staffing four shifts throughout the day on Friday to fulfill grocery orders for our guests, and assisting in the occasional Food Drive or other special projects on Saturdays.
Here is what our volunteers are saying:
"It’s a real pleasure to work in concert with such friendly, organized people. I loved the fast pace and the way the hours raced by."
"Such an awesome organization. So glad to be a part of this community effort."
"I really enjoy volunteering with you and everyone else at the pantry. It's such important work for the community and everyone is so welcoming and kind."
Come join us! Email Barbara at info@newburyfoodpantry.org to let her know you are interested.
FOOD DONATIONS
We accept food donations every Thursday from 9:30 am -1 pm. If you are not able to drop off at that time, please contact us at info@newburyfoodpantry.org or call 978-358-1077 to arrange another time.
Our most requested items include Coffee, Tea, Flour, Sugar, Baking Mixes, Cereals, Pasta Sides, Jello and Pudding Mixes, Jelly, Broths, Soups, and Toilet Paper.