Community Corner
Annual Food Drive is Largest Source of Donations for Medfield Food Cupboard
Medfield Food Cupboard organizers are hoping the annual Letter Carriers' food drive brings enough food to get 43 families through the summer.
Thirty volunteers helped unload 11 Post Office trucks that collected food items left at mailboxes during the 19th annual NALC Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive on May 14.
The annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive is the largest source of donations for the Medfield Food Cupboard. This year, Food Cupboard organizers are hoping the drive brings enough food to get 43 families through the summer.
“It’s an important drive for us to do well in,” said Food Cupboard volunteer Caren McElhenny as they waited for more postal trucks to arrive at the , where the food cupboard is housed. “If it’s a big drive, we can make it through the summer … It’s been pretty good so far.”
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On Saturday, the letter carriers picked up food items left by customers by their mailboxes and took them to the Medfield Food Cupboard. There, volunteers were waiting to unload the trucks, sort through the items discarding any expired goods, and then sort it according to food category.
Additional volunteers then took the items to the church basement where the Food Cupboard keeps its food.
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One of the volunteers was Thomas Flynn, the three-year old grandson of Beth Eby, president of the Medfield Food Cupboard.
“We start them young,” said Eby, as she directed Thomas to discard expired items.
Eby said the pantry’s most urgent need is for bottled juice, canned fruit, and rice. She added the pantry does not need pasta or soup as they have plenty of both (and those items have a very long shelf life).
Other needed items include cereal, peanut butter and jelly, pasta sauce (but no pasta), macaroni and cheese, water-packed tuna, canned chicken, cookies, crackers, raisins, canned vegetables, coffee (instant and regular), four-packs of toilet paper, boxes of tissues, paper towels, shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, and shaving cream.
Items can be dropped off at at the Narthex of the United Church of Christ and at other churches in town. Checks and SCRIP can be mailed to the Medfield Food Cupboard, PO Box 172, Medfield 02052. For more information, contact Eby at (508) 359-4958.
