ENFIELD — The Enfield Food Shelf has been established in town since 1968. It is a nonprofit organization that provides a variety of different food and basic needs for Enfield families who find themselves with a need. They provide weekly grocery-style food assistance and basic needs as donations permit, such as toiletries, cleaning products, clothing and shoes.
Executive Director Kathleen Souvigney said, “Right now, we have more than 3,000 individuals who are registered for our weekly grocery program, so we provide a lot of support for the community. As an organization, we envision a community where there is access to nutritious food all year long.”
The Enfield Food Shelf has programs that serve the before and after school K-8 students, a mobile pantry bi-weekly, satellite pantries and offer a home delivery program. They have other programs designed for the needs of seniors, young families, unhoused individuals, as well as for children in need of summer lunches.
“The gift of food security is tremendous,” said Souvigney. “It will allow children who are feeling food insecure the ability to study better and focus better in school.”
She continued, “Food security allows seniors with low fixed incomes to provide for themselves and utilize their fixed incomes on other important needs such as medication. For young families, learning to use food assistance intermittently can provide financial stability when faced with major expenses.”
The Enfield Food Shelf has numerous businesses and individuals who do a great job supporting them and providing them with a lot of the holiday foods that they distribute. It has hundreds of donors year-round who provide everything from 10 pounds to thousands of pounds of food.
A great example of the difference donors can make is the Shaker Pines Fire Department who recently did their annual food drive and donated 789 pounds of food to the pantry for its holiday distribution.
Administrative Assistant Jolene Bauckman at Shaker Pines Fire Department said, “The Enfield Food Shelf has been an active member of the Enfield community for a long time. They are an amazing organization, and they are there to help anyone who needs it. If a short-term disability, brief unemployment or long-term issue makes it difficult to feed the family, the Enfield Food Shelf is there to help.”
Another example is Knights of Columbus Council 50 which also does an annual fundraiser so the pantry can purchase hams to distribute during the Christmas season. These are just two of many of the donors who support the Enfield Food Shelf’s shopping families for the holidays.
“We appreciate every donor that brings food,” Souvigney said. “We also are grateful to our monetary donors who allow us to purchase food and fill in the gaps of food items we haven’t received through donations.”
In addition to the monetary or food donations, the Enfield Food Shelf has almost 100 volunteers who donate their time, so they are able to provide families with what they need in a welcoming and dignified manner.
Keeping up with the demand is the Enfield Food Shelf’s biggest challenge going forward. It needs a wide variety of items. They usually tell interested donors that any shelf stable item they use in their own home and for their own cooking are great ideas of items to donate.
Popular with the pantry’s shoppers are items like macaroni and cheese, pasta, rice, spaghetti sauce, individually wrapped snacks, drinks, cereals and oatmeal.
“We have had quite an increase in the number of families seeking food assistance, especially over the last six months,” said Souvigney. “Overall, we’re up about 30% in our grocery program alone from where we were last year. Our top priority is finding sources for food, so we are able to keep pace with the need in our community.”
The Enfield Food Shelf is located at 786 Enfield St. (entrance in rear of building). Their hours of operation for volunteers and donations are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
They distribute food on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in their weekly grocery program and every other Friday from 11:15 a.m. to noon at their mobile pantry.
Anyone interested in more information can call 860-741-7321 or visit enfieldfoodshelf.org.
