By Brad Spiegel
Unfortunately, the joyous times of the holiday season are often overshadowed by the greater need for food assistance among many in Wayland and the surrounding communities.
Hundreds of individuals and families with food insecurity have to look elsewhere to put food on the table. Sometimes it is because they hope to host family and friends for a holiday meal. Other times it is the rise in food prices or the loss of government programs that make everyday meals near impossible without supplemental food.
It comes as no surprise that the food pantries in Wayland see a significant boost in need and visitors in the last two months of the year due to family needs.
“We always see a spike in numbers coinciding with the holidays,” said John Thomas, executive director of Sudbury Community Food Pantry on Boston Post Road. “People are looking to do a little more to celebrate the holidays. If they are putting together a meal for others they want to go above and beyond what they usually do.”
“More so now than ever people are using our food pantry,” said LaVerne Merriitt, food pantry director at Celebration International Church. “As the years go by we have been seeing a slow uptick (from previous years), but this year increasingly more people have come out for help. We probably have increased 20 percent just over the last few weeks.”
Some food pantries are forced to make changes to their normal schedule and distribution due to the high demand at the end of the year.
At Mary Carlucci Food Pantry at St. Ann Church those who come through the doors before Thanksgiving get a bag of groceries with the necessary items for the holiday meal side dishes, as well as a gift card to a local grocery store to purchase a turkey. For Christmas, a gift is included with the food, provided by the Wayland Garden Club.
Celebration International Church switches from its three open time slots in November to only one, closer to Thanksgiving. Called Operation Turkey Express, those in need can sign up to pick up a larger container of food, including a turkey. Volunteers from the youth group at the church and community organizations help out.
“It’s a nice opportunity to give back to the community and build relationships,” said Celebration International Church Pastor Brian Faria.
One silver lining to the high demand is that more people come out to volunteer, contribute food, and donate money.
Congregation Or Atid doesn’t have a food pantry but it does contribute to organizations like Jewish Family & Children Services, which is based in Waltham. While its biggest effort is during the Jewish High Holidays – “We donate what we would have eaten (during fasting on Yom Kippur) to those families with food insecurities” – it sees more assistance from its community during the November and December holidays, including a December food collection from the youth in the congregation.
“I think everyone is asking about programs, from where the resources are to what we can do to help,” said Cindy Fenichel, who is on the synagogue’s Social Action committee. ”We try to help by getting the word out on where to go.”
St. Ann’s “sister” church, St. Zepherin’s, as well as the Knights of Columbus, are big contributors to its pantry, especially during the holidays.
“As we are a small organization, we rely solely on donations and volunteers,” said Laurie Smith at St. Ann.
“People have been generous and have stepped up,” said Thomas of Sudbury Community Food Pantry, which has participants fill out a “grocery list” before coming during one of two time slots on both Tuesdays and Fridays. ”We are lucky that we live in an affluent area.”
For more information, or to donate or volunteer, contact the individual organization.
