Long Island food pantries still need donations

The Our Lady of Peace Parish Social Ministry’s food pantry is stocked for the holidays, but its director, Sister Barbara Faber, said the pantry will still need donations after the holiday season is over.

“Right now, we’re doing OK,” Faber said. “But my concern is for January and February. I’m afraid we’ll be in need.”

Faber, who has worked with the pantry for the past 15 years, said it serves 65 to 70 Lynbrook families. She explained that any family in Lynbrook can use the facility, regardless of religion, and families are allowed to fill two grocery bags with food twice a month.

This year has been particularly difficult, Faber noted, but despite tough economic times, community members and parishioners have donated to help the needy during the holidays. “The parishioners here are feeling the strain of the economy,” she said. “It’s been a lot harder, but the community has been very generous to those in need.”

Faber said it is difficult to estimate how many people donated to the pantry because many do so anonymously before and after Mass. The pantry is still in need of essential items like coffee, pancake mix, tomato sauce and children’s snacks — and the need will grow as winter deepens, Faber said.

“I’m concerned because, often from Thanksgiving to Christmas, people are aware of the need,” she said. “But in January, everyone will be trying to pay their bills and it’s sort of a down time.”

The need for donations never ends, Faber added. For example, she said, a family of four who were without the means to have a Christmas dinner came to the pantry recently. After filling two grocery bags with food, they thanked Faber for saving their holiday. “They said to me, ‘You made our Christmas,’” she said. “They had nothing for their children and we helped Christmas be a little better for them.”

Small village, big hearts

When new congregant Teresa Scorsese asked the East Rockaway Nazarene Church’s pastor, the Rev. Stephen Hurkens, if there was something she could do to contribute to the parish, he had an idea: a food pantry. “We had done it here before, and it seemed like it was needed again,” Hurkens said.