Can You Believe It's Been 40 Years?
November 2021 Newsletter
This Month Marks 40 Years of Service to North Kingstown
It is fall at the Pantry and we are gearing up with collecting food for our annual Thanksgiving baskets. This year we are estimating that we may have 450 families requesting baskets of food to cover a Thanksgiving dinner plus one weeks worth of food. That is more families than any previous year. It is also our 40th year of operation! We are looking to our founder, Bonnie Smith, who started the Pantry with board member Pat Tilley, and comparing our current location to the closet at the United Methodist Church on Boston Neck Road. To look at the small 5 ft x 15 ft closet and compare it to the building that we have today, is incredible. Thank you to our community which is so supportive of our Pantry and our mission. We could not feed the hungry people of North Kingstown, without your help. Thank you for supporting our mission for 40 years! We will keep you posted on events we will have to celebrate.
Kimberly Page, EdD, JD
Always modest, Bonnie Smith added: “I was brought into the Food Pantry beginnings by Ted Seymour,- a man led by his many visions! I am not the founder. Pat Tilley got involved with the pantry when her 2 sons became Scouts, and her interest in the pantry never flagged after that. United Methodist provided the spaces and other ways of supporting the pantry for the 30+ years we were in their building, not a small feat!!”
editor’s note: Bonnie may not be the Founder, but we will be forever grateful for all she has done.
Fall Cleanup
Armed with trowels, clippers and a spade, members of Plum Beach Garden Club recently went to work weeding and grooming the garden at the North Kingstown Food Pantry. This garden was designed and installed by PBGC in 2017 in appreciation for all the good works done by the Pantry staff to meet vital needs in the community. Linda Sollitto, Civic Beautification Chair for the club, led the fall cleanup team including Becky Dower, Sue Smith, Jo McCann and Meredith Moody. Food Pantry volunteer/Board Member Teri Ohs also lent a hand with the cleanup.
About a hundred witches ditched their broomsticks for paddles and took over Wickford harbor today. There were doggies, babies, kids and guitar wielding skeletons along for the ride and warlocks, too! It was truly a sight to see and we gotta thank The Kayak Centre of RI for brewing up this annual event and manager Matt for a “boo-tiful” day. This was the largest number of participants they’ve ever drawn. With the $5 registration fee, that’s about a $500 donation to the North Kingstown Food Pantry. The witches definitely cast a spell on the huge crowd of anticipating spectators, as well. That’s how we fly during Wicked Week in Wickford!
Scouting for Food returns in person this year! Scouts from Southern New England participate in this annual drive by collecting canned goods from families and individuals. The drive is now in its 34th year.
Scouting for Food is one of the RI Food Bank’s largest food drives. Each year, the Scouts collect about 200,000 pounds of food. This weekend, keep an eye out for a door hanger listing most needed items left by eager Scouts looking to collect food on November 6th. If you get a door hanger that means a Scout will be by to pick up food donations next Saturday.
Here’s a quick peek at the inside of the Heather A. Colby Photography 2022 calendar. 10% of all proceeds go to the North Kingstown Food Pantry. https://bit.ly/3CpwuKZ
North Kingstown Food Pantry
445 School Street
North Kingstown, RI 02852
Directions
401-885-3663
Stephen E. Souls
opsmanager.nkfp@gmail.com
Hours
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Monday to Wednesday and Friday
10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Thursday
4th Saturday of the Month
10:00 AM to Noon
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The North Kingstown Food Pantry is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.