Chester Food Pantry Rides Donation Wave

Last month, when Jacki Spinelli announced that the Chester Food Pantry had reached historic lows in stock, she expected to receive support from the community.

What she couldn’t have expected was the deluge of support that increased exponentially as July drew to a close.

“We are up to about 2,500 pounds which is only a little short of what we figured we needed for August,” Spinelli said. “And about 1,200 just over the last week.”

According to Spinelli, the pantry serves roughly 45 families in Mendham and Chester and the shelves that were once bare have started to fill up.

“I think we have just about enough to take care of our August distribution and we are working on September,” Spinelli said. “We just need to get over this hump when donations usually lag because of the schools being out people being on vacation.”

Spinelli said that individuals, families, clubs and businesses have all jumped in to help.

“So many people have been helping including families that just show up with hundreds of dollars worth of new donations,” Spinelli said. “Businesses taking collections, individuals working Facebook to get people to donate and people holding neighborhood drives.”

The Pantry will be making this month’s delivery on Aug. 21, and are still short on many items:

• Prepared foods (Hamburger Helper, etc)
• Canned Peas
• Canned Meats (canned chicken, hash, spam, etc)
• Stuffing
• Instant Potatoes
• Cookies
• Snacks
• Juice
• Salad Dressing
• Mayo
• BBQ Sauce
• Chili
• Spaghettios
• Dish Detergent

Spinelli said that the pantry also needs paper products, hygiene products, and mostly anything except pasta, canned soups, toothpaste, toothbrushes.