Food pantry appreciates community

4 years ago

To the editor:

We at Grace Interfaith Food Table (GIFT) would like to take a moment to thank our communities that we service for helping to make our fifth annual Garden Tour a huge success.

There were seven different gardens that people could visit and each one was so unique and special, as were all of the gardeners.  As one of them, I truly appreciate all the time, patience and energy everyone put in so the public could enjoy each garden.

Therefore, I would like to thank the following: Hope Estey, Revily Fulton, Wanita Hallowell, Terry Kilcollins, Dave and Debbie Jones, Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library and my husband, Gordon Buzza, who brought much pleasure during this COVID-19 time to many people. We got to enjoy being outside and seeing part of nature, and that made us feel like something was a little normal.  

Also, I would be very remiss if I did not give a big thank you to Anne Hemphill and Athena Hallowell for their time and talents helping me to make the Garden Tour come altogether.  

GIFT serves the communities of Presque Isle, Mapleton, Castle Hill, Chapman and Crouseville.  From January to August of this year we have served 146 non-duplicated families with a total of 355 non-duplicated individuals.  This is all done by volunteer workers and food donations from many sources.  Normally the clients come into our establishment to “shop” for the food they need. However, due to the virus, we are putting up boxes of shelf-stable foods, meats, vegetables, cheese, eggs and margarine according to the size of the families.  

We are open the first four Wednesdays of each month by appointment, by calling 764-8584 on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon.  

We are always looking for volunteers to help unload freight. The lifting requirement would be 40 pounds. If you are interested call the above number and leave a message for me.

Charlene Buzza
GIFT Director of Volunteers
Presque Isle