At another wonderful food pantry that I typically attend on Tuesdays, we essentially do the same thing as we do at Community Solidarity: pack and organize boxes of food to distribute to those in need. The only difference between the two pantries is the quality and abundance of food. At this pantry that I am just telling you about, it is run out of the Manhasset EOC, named Shelter Rock Church Food Pantry. At this food pantry, the quality of the food is much better, however, the abundance of food is slightly less. Whereas at Community Solidarity, the quality of food is far worse, yet the abundance is slightly greater. This is because of the environments that the two pantries are in. At the Shelter Rock Church Food Pantry, it is located in a better socio-economic area than Community Solidarity. Most of the people who come are in slightly better condition than those who attend Community Solidarity. And as you may guess, the abundance of food is slightly less at the Shelter Rock Church Food Pantry because there are less people who come (less people who suffer from food insecurity). Now I am inclined to believe that because of the different environments of the areas, this plays a major factor in the quality of the foods. Pantries in slightly less areas will often have better quality food, because of more reliable donors and better resources to keep this food in good quality, and they will have less abundance of food because of less people who need to come to the pantries. And in contrast, those pantries which are in poorer areas will often have lower quality foods because of less reliable donors and little to no resources to help keep the food intact and of good quality. The foods in these lower income areas are often smushed or expired because of the lack of equipment they have to keep the foods good, whereas in better areas, these pantries often have things like refrigerators or better transportation methods to keep the foods more edible. The poorer area food pantries will also have more food because of the more people who need to come to get food.
Overall, my main point here is that in environments where there is more money, these pantries will often have better quality food for their attendees. And in lower income environments, the result will be the opposite (lower quality of foods). In order to fix this, I will soon be working to set up a fundraiser in my community to help raise money for these food pantries to get them the resources they need to keep their food in good quality, and to purchase better quality foods. This will mainly be for Community Solidarity, however, for the Shelter Rock Church Food Pantry I will be looking to find ways to raise money to shop for many of the attendees or acquire more food the the overall pantry.
no1-hungry 