Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry Celebrates Volunteers, New and Retiring Board Members -- Check out recent photos

Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry Celebrates Volunteers, New and Retiring Board Members

The focus of the recent Board of Directors Meeting of the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry (WIFP) was celebrating the volunteers as well as current and retiring Board Members and welcoming two new Board members.

President of the Board, Wendy Dennis greeted attendees to the meeting and oversaw the swearing in ceremony for accepting the group of officers and members.  (A complete list of Board members can be found on the WIFP website, www.wifoodpantry.org.)

New members, Richard Greif and Annie Duvall, were welcomed to the group and the slate of officers for a one-year term were elected:

·       Wendy Dennis, President

·       Susan Bernard, Vice President

·       Julie Theriault, Treasurer

·       Joanne Turco, Clerk

“The hardest part of about this particular meeting was to say good-bye to two of our retiring board members, Beth Hendriks and Judy Gordon,” said Dennis.  “For years they’ve share their energy, wisdom and enthusiasm in helping the WIFP serve our neighbors in need which is why we wanted to take the time to recognize their dedication and service.”

Maureen Miller, WIFP Operations Director, also presented the Harriet Winsor Volunteer of the Year Award to Debbie Jones, WIFP Shift Leader.  This special award is presented to a volunteer or volunteers who have demonstrated exceptional performance, personal commitment and dedication to the food pantry, and whose interactions with clients and volunteers are consistently professional and an inspiration to others.

“This achievement recognizes volunteers who consistently perform above and beyond the call of duty. Debbie has been an integral part of our operations since moving to the new location in 2010.  With her expertise and dedication we are able to provide a wide variety of nutritious food to those who come through our doors with dignity and respect,” said Miller.

Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry Offers Kid Friendly Food Options for Summer Kids First Program

The Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry offers a special program called Kids First which provides food to families with school age children during the summer months.

“Many families receive free or reduced price breakfast and lunch during the school year, but this help is not available during the summer,” explains Maureen Miller, Operations Director at the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry. “The Kids First Program provides some “kid friendly” food items to help replace those meals.”

Interested families should go the food pantry during open hours (Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, and Thursday between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm) to register and choose their food.  Families are able to shop twice per month. 

The pantry has partnered with Shaws in Wakefield which has generously agreed to provide food items to the pantry at a low cost and delivers the food as well.  In addition to the regular stock, families will find juice boxes, fruit cups, pudding cups, breakfast bars, pancake mix, cookies and crackers, bread, Nutella spread, freeze pops and fresh fruit.

For more information about the Summer Kids First Program, please call the food pantry at 781.245.2510 or email:  kidsfirst@wifoodpantry.org.

Food Pantry Volunteers Make Sure Clients Enjoy the 4th of July in Power Out Crisis

Thirty-two needy families would have been without food for their Fourth of July celebration had it not been for the extra effort of the Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department and the dedicated volunteers at the food pantry (as reported in the Wakefield Daily Item by Gail Lowe, 7/10/2012). Volunteers worked in the pitch black to help clients shop for provisions and to do registrations to make ...sure that each shopper was a Wakefield resident. While the WMGLD planned the outage, the staff at the WIFP didn't know about it due to a communication error. "All Americans - no matter what economic level -- deserve to have a good time on our nation's birthday," said Maureen Miller, Director of WIFP Operations. And so thanks to support from the WMGLD and super volunteers, they did!

Thank You for Special Election Collection Food Drive

All of us here at the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry – staff, board members, and volunteers – would like to extend our deepest thanks to the generous citizens of Wakefield.  Voters who came out on June 9^th to cast their ballots related to the funding of a new Galvin Middle School also brought in donations of much need food items to help stock our pantry shelves.  Because of your kindness, we collected about 100 bags of food from this Special Election Collection food drive.  Thank you again and best wishes for a fun-filled, safe summer.

Maureen Miller, Director of Operations

Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry