Luken Daily Bread partners with a number of organizations including Schenectady Shares, Concerned for the Hungry, the Carlilian Foundation and Schenectady Food Providers to fill the pantry shelves at the main pantry location in St. Luke’s every week. After recognizing the need for an additional pantry location to offer more accessibility to patrons, the partners collaborated with St.
Luke’s to make the satellite pantry in the Holy Name of Jesus Church a reality. “We identified that Mont Pleasant is deserted for food. There are really no stores or groceries — barely even a bodega,” said Jacqueline Clute, executive director of the Daily Bread Mont Pleasant location.
“We’ve seen so often the people that come to our pantry may be able to get to other pantries on the bus, but it’s very hard to carry as many as 11 or 12 bags on them.” After recognizing the issue of transportation and accessibility to the main pantry, Daily Bread Food Pantry received several funds and donations to get the Mont Pleasant branch started. Schenectady Shares made an initial investment of $10,000, followed by a $20,000 donation from Concerned for the Hungry.
Additional grants from The Rotary Club of Schenectady Foundation and the Carlilian Foundation to Concerned for the Hungry were able to provide the new pantry with vital equipment such as a refrigerator and walk-in freezer. “If you want to run a food pantry, you’ve got to be collaborative and willing to come together to make it happen,” said Clute. The Mont Pleasant location operates every Monday from 3-6 p.
m., and the St. Luke’s location operates Tuesday through Thursday and the second Saturday of each month from 10 a.
m. to 2 p.m.
After opening its doors on July 29 for the first time, the Mont Pleasant pantry already now has 70 volunteers and is a success. “The first Monday we opened we served 28 households, which means 98 people for a total of 980 meals.” Clute said.
“Many of those families we served were completely new to the Luken food pantry.” With so many faces visiting the Mont Pleasant pantry, Clute shared that the outcome surpassed expectations. “We seem to be getting a lot of new people,” she said.
“At first we were hoping this would alleviate some of the pressure on the main pantry, but what it’s really done is identify more people that need help that we didn’t know about before.” The Daily Bread Food Pantry locations are both operated on an order system that allows patrons to call and reserve specific foods that they want. This is done to keep the pantry inclusive, and all people with certain dietary restrictions to have access to specific foods they need.
“Other food pantries will often give people a box of food that has things in it they can’t eat,” Clute said. “The beauty of having people pick their own food is that we can accommodate everyone’s needs.” This strategy also eliminates food waste.
“We really have zero food waste in our pantries,” said Clute. “Any leftovers we have get donated to other pantries in Schenectady County wherever they’re needed, and when people get to choose what they want to take home, there’s no waste.” The Luken Daily Bread Food Pantry also aims to operate in a way that encourages patrons to seek assistance when they need it, eliminating the stigma often associated with going to a food pantry.
“We are fortunate because we get to talk to our guests every day at our location. We talk to them on the phone and have a conversation,” Clute said. “We get to know them, which shows our respect and gives them a better sense of dignity and self worth.
” The Mont Pleasant pantry already has ideas on how to improve in the future, offering more resources to the public. “We’ve already been in talks with the county ..
. We want to have a satellite DSS [Department of Social Services] office in our building where people can get additional help and we can get them signed up for things like SNAP benefits and other resources," said Clute. With the addition of its newest location, Daily Bread seeks to help anyone in need no matter what their story is.
“Everybody runs into hard times, I don’t care who you are,” said Clute. “We’re here to act as a bridge for people between the hard times and not so hard times.” To become involved with the Luken Daily Bread Food Pantry or to find more information, visit www.
stlukesschenectady.org ..
