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Gabrielle Scarpaci, the executive director of the East Hampton Food Pantry, is worried that come winter, the pantry’s cupboards will be bare.
During all of 2009, she said the food pantry served 22,305 people. Since January 1, it has already served 35,000 people at a cost of $200,000 with more than two months remaining in the year.
While the cupboards of the pantry aren’t totally bare now, there isn’t enough money on hand to feed the growing number of people. As of last week, the pantry had a total of $28,000 in its coffers and anticipated it would need $100,000 to cover expenses over the next six months.
“Money’s the thing,” said Ms Scarpaci, although the pantry does accept donations of canned and dry food at its headquarters in the Windmill Village II apartments for seniors on Accabonac Road.
She speculated that the poor economy, combined with people being out of work in the winter, has led to the increase in the numbers of people seeking food. “Winter is always a busy time of year for us,” she said. “People think because we live in the Hamptons, we’re all rich, but that isn’t true. The majority of people who live here are working people. The food pantry serves a variety of people, including families who have been here for generations and seniors on a fixed income.
“A lot of the seniors we serve have only their Social Security check, and that doesn’t go very far,” she said.
The food pantry doesn’t keep records on the people who come in for food. other than to ask them to register by name. Its volunteers don’t ask about income or for any personal information, she said. “We feel that people just walking in the door need food, and we don’t ask any questions.”
The Food Pantry does its own fund-raising and counts on about 40 volunteers, who help pick up food, deliver and unload it, and help out on distribution days, which are Tuesdays, from 4 to 6 p.m. A satellite food pantry at Scoville Hall in Amagansett is open the same day from 2 to 6 p.m.
“We’re always thinking about ways to make money to stay open and give the quantity of food we’ve been giving,” Ms. Scarpaci said. Food is distributed according to the size of a family, with an individual getting about a half a bag once a week, and a small family getting one bag and a family of seven or more getting two bags. The food they get is a mixture of fresh produce, dairy products such as butter, milk and cheese and canned and dried foods such as pasta and rice.
A fund-raising drive, in which high school students and other volunteers carried cans for donations during the Hamptons Film Festival earlier this month raised about $13,000, Ms. Scarpaci said.
A Western Fair held last month at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett netted another $4,000. It featured games, line dancing, crafts and food, cooked and donated by the East Hampton Lions Club, a petting zoo and pony rides.
“The fair, though it was a lot of work, was successful and we’ll certainly continue that event next year,” she said. The pantry also held summer movie nights in conjunction with Hamptons Drive-in, twice at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett and twice at area schools.
The pantry also does a fundraiser in connection with the Polar Bear Plunge, held New Year’s Day at Main Beach in East Hampton.
The Food Pantry orders its food from a variety of places, including Long Island Dairy, Point Produce, Landmark Distributors and the local grocery stores, which allow the pantry to order large quantities of whatever is on sale in a particular week.
To pick up food, the pantry counts on its volunteers who drive the Windmill Village II truck to and from food distributors.
The Lions Club is looking into obtaining a van for the food pantry, Ms. Scarpaci said.
