Sacred Hearts Food Pantry: No Space to Spare

Each week Sacred Hearts Food Pantry in Bradford, a team of volunteers feed more than 700 households lined up in cars out of a three-bay garage, no matter the weather.
"No one gets paid here," says director Bill Lapierre, 86, "including me."
Lapierre has run the pantry for more than 30 years, honoring the legacy of his wife Karen who started the pantry but was killed by a drunk driver as she loaded supplies in their car in 2012.
For Lapierre and organizations like Sacred Hearts, the added storage and distribution provided by the Seacoast Regional Food Hub holds great potential for the growing number of people they serve. 
On a beautiful Wednesday in September, two men bagged rolls of tissue paper sitting next to Lapierre, whose desk is surrounded by boxes and and supplies. In an adjacent room used for dry storage, boxes are stacked on top of each other - the shelving was removed because it took up too much room.
Cold storage is limited to three refrigerators. And every inch of the building is filled with food, along with a portable container that holds diapers and some other toiletries.
Every week, the building gets filled and nearly emptied as food goes into bags and then into cars driving by, as grateful passengers offer their thanks and blessings to the volunteers.
The majority of the food comes from the Greater Boston Food Bank. Until just two months before, five volunteers would hop in a rented U-Haul and head into Boston to get more than 10,000 pounds of food and unload it back in Haverhill. If they were offered a pallet of surplus food from Target or another source, they might have to refuse it because there is no place for it to go.
Now, two volunteers drive to the Seacoast Regional Food Hub in Salisbury, borrow a truck from Our Neighbors' Table, and pallets are forklifted off the GBFB 18-wheeler and right on to the ONT truck. Soon, Sacred Hearts will have the option to use the hub for additional storage, including cold storage in the Hub's huge refrigerators and freezer. As the need rises, Lapierre says it will be a necessity.
In a region with so many resources, IMAGINE we could provide more food - and more fresh food - to food providers and the people they serve across the entire region. All it takes is community members willing to come together with a small investment that will impact hundreds of their neighbors.
Can you take a moment to consider supporting providers like Bill and more than 25 providers facing the same challenges?

Show Me How I Can Help