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Overcast Rockville Centre Police Benevolent Association helps donate food to Sharon’s Pantry
In order to help provide food to families in the community facing food insecurities this Thanksgiving, the Rockville Centre Police Benevolent Association in conjunction with Mayor Francis Murray and the Village board, hosted a drive-up food drive on Nov. 18 in front of the RVC Police Department headquarters on Maple Avenue.
James Carty, president of the Rockville Centre PBA, said that the event to help benefit Sharon’s Food Pantry at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center was a huge success.
“Well over 100 cars showed up with every type of non-perishable food item you could imagine,” Carty said. “The amount of food donated by the PBA and residents filled up a van from front-to-back and top-to-bottom. We also had to fill up a pickup truck to get everything over to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center.”
Throughout the day, residents stopped by in cars, trucks and even on foot, to generously give whatever non-perishable food items they could to help stock the shelves at the food pantry before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Sharon Sheppard and a group of volunteers created the food pantry with the MLK Center in April 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, in order to provide food to those in the community who may have been struggling financially or who would otherwise be left hungry. Today it serves more than 115 local families in need and several Long Islanders who are working on limited incomes.
Carty said that Sheppard was extremely happy with all of the donations provided from the food drive. He also said that next year the PBA plans on adding a toy drive in early December to help benefit local families with limited resources.
The food pantry is open Friday mornings, from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 150 N. Centre Ave. in Rockville Centre, and is always in need of donations to help keep families facing food insecurities fed during times of need.
Anyone interested in donating food can drop off items at the MLK Center on Friday mornings while the pantry is open. Monetary donations can also be made via the Anti-Racism Project, 30 Seaman Ave. in Rockville Centre or electronically via Zelle at AntiRacismProjectLI@Gmail.com.
