Letters

The East Hampton Food Pantry would like to thank all the supporters who came out for a pleasant plunge at our Summer Splash on July 12.

It was a lovely, balmy evening at Main Beach for our very first sunset summer plunge. We look forward to making it an annual event.

It literally takes a village to organize the Summer Splash. We’d like to thank East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larson, Deputy Mayor Chris Minardi and Village Administrator Marcos Baladron for their invaluable assistance. Drew Smith, chief lifeguard and beach manager, was a huge help, too.

Thanks, also, to our wonderful volunteers — we wouldn’t be able to do all we do without them.

And we wouldn’t be able to host events like our plunge without generous sponsors like The Express News Group and its East Hampton Press. Much gratitude to you.

Big thanks, also, to our sponsors Hampton Life, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, Montauk Brewing Company, Gurney’s Montauk, Douglas Elliman, Aventura Motors, Harbor Hot Tubs & Spas, M&T Bank, Montaukila, and the Montauk Lake Club.

Myriad donors to our silent auction, prepared by Kirby Marcantonio of Feed the Need, and participants who splashed into the surf deserve our sincerest thanks as well. So, too, do we offer gratitude to BlueMercury, Two Sisters Nuts and Seeds, Jack’s Coffee, Kidd Squid Brewing Company, East End Press and Vicki’s Veggies for their assistance with our VIP tote bags.

Food insecurity is real in East Hampton. We’re currently serving some 300 families each week, on Tuesdays at our site in East Hampton behind Town Hall, as well as our satellite in Amagansett each Wednesday. From Montauk to Wainscott, we serve a growing local contingency of elders, families and children in need. They rely on our assistance to survive; their challenges are hard to fathom in a community that, on the surface, “has it all.”

Your support means everything to our clients, local members of our East Hampton community.

Vicki M. Littman

Chairperson

East Hampton Food Pantry