{"id":88,"date":"2016-05-12T05:48:22","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T09:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.northcanaancongregationalchurch.org\/the-fishes-loaves-food-pantry\/"},"modified":"2021-11-18T15:52:04","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T20:52:04","slug":"the-fishes-loaves-food-pantry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.northcanaancongregationalchurch.org\/_wpez\/the-fishes-loaves-food-pantry\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishes & Loaves Food Pantry Open Tuesdays 4-6pm & Thursdays 12-2pm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fishes & Loaves Food Pantry operates out of The Pilgrim House at 30 Granite Avenue in Canaan as a mission of the North Canaan Congregational Church.\u00a0 Since early 2018 we have been open on Tuesday evenings from 5-7 (now 4-6pm) in addition to Thursday afternoons from 12-2. We are happy to serve residents of Canaan, Falls Village and Norfolk.
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In need of nourishing food? We would love to see you during those hours. Signing up is easy, so please come over.<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe that evangelism \u2014 offering bread to those in search of it \u2014 is God’s mission. Our perspective is global, not provincial. We work with \u2014 not against \u2014 people of other faiths. Why?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because God is still speaking, –<\/em>-UCC<\/h3>\n

Our motto is “Feed the Community you want to live in.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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Terri Brennan, organic micro-green farmer, feeds the community in which she lives!\u00a0 We receive deliveries from her SHARON MOUNTAIN GREENS almost every week.\u00a0 She personally stocks our refrigerated shelves with these luscious, nutritious, organic micro-greens.\u00a0 Our Fishes & Loaves clients couldn’t be happier!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Local farmers are very thoughtful in donating eggs when their hens produce an overabundance! We thank Farmer Foley, in particular, for his generosity.\u00a0
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Volunteer Peg Cser’s spirit, who sadly passed away in June of this year, will long live on here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Carroll Woodward volunteered for many years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Ed and Martha Scott display the two beautiful quilts which Martha created for Peg and Carroll.\u00a0 Martha and Ed often help us unload deliveries from the CT State Food Bank on Thursday mornings.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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WE GOT SO MUCH BETTER ABLE TO SERVE CLIENTS IN 2017!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It takes a lot to keep a food pantry running smoothly.\u00a0 Given the massive quantities of food we bring in every month we were in need of a better way to store, rotate, inventory and distribute the food on our shelves.\u00a0 In 2017 Kevin Farnham saw this need and volunteered to implement a<\/p>\n

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Kevin Farnham, Storage Management Designer\/Builder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

new storage system.\u00a0 He supervised the cleaning up of a little-used room; designed four free-standing shelf units to fit our specifications; procured free building materials from C.A. Lindell & Son (owner Robert Riva and store manager Peter Broggi were most generous); built the shelves, and put them into place.\u00a0 This was all done within a matter of days.\u00a0 Michael Harrington of Mountainside, single-handedly gave the south storage room the five fresh coats of paint and North Canaan Congregational Church’s Rich Forman solved our HVAC issues.\u00a0 Additional Mountainside volunteers helped with the clean-up and stocking of shelves and our long-time volunteers from the Canaan Seventh Day Adventist Church rounded out the effort.\u00a0 In the end, we have a beautiful and efficient south storage room that we are proud to show off.<\/p>\n

This will give an idea of the work involved and how our generous and skilled volunteers improved our space and efficiency:<\/p>\n

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Michael Harrington immediately after installation- We greatly appreciate his generosity!<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Michael Harrington and Kevin Farnham loading up the new shelves<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Bill Knutson, Kevin Farnham and Rich Forman finish stocking shelves<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Four of our great volunteers from Mountainside.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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At Pilgrim House our kitchen is often used to prepare community meals, including a delicious chili dinner! Many hands make light work, thanks to our generous volunteers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \"george-cooking\"\u00a0\u00a0 \"gina-and-crew\"\u00a0\u00a0 \"gina-young-chef\"<\/p>\n

\"ginss-crew-ruthie\"Stay tuned to see what upcoming events we will have!<\/p>\n

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Things are cookin’ in the Pilgrim House kitchen!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are always in need of funds to support our program and are grateful for monetary donations.\u00a0\u00a0 Please send your funds to:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fishes & Loaves Food Pantry<\/span>
\nPO Box 306<\/span>
\nCanaan\u00a0 CT 06018<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The Pilgrim House at 30 Granite Avenue, Canaan \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>
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Louise Riley, Director<\/span><\/p>\n

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We continue to be amazed by the food contributions that come through our doors; many times with no indication of who the donor is.\u00a0 Serving people in need from Canaan, Falls Village and Norfolk, we are privileged to have this very important work within our church.\u00a0 The pantry originally opened by Lois Carlson in 1992 as a church-supported program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our prolific alliance with Stop & Shop, through a partnership with the Connecticut Food Bank, yields donations to our pantry three times a week.\u00a0 We also partner with Connecticut Food Share to access meat, produce, eggs, milk and dry goods, which are delivered to us on a regular basis.\u00a0 This requires weekly and monthly reporting plus yearly inspections and staff training.\u00a0 Fortunately for our clients we receive turkeys (or chickens) and all the fixins’ for Thanksgiving!
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Our strong community supporters include St. Martin of Tours R.C. Church, Canaan United Methodist Church and Canaan Seventh-Day AdVentist Church. We are blessed by the generous donations of Salisbury Rotary Club, Canaan Northwest Lions Club and the Cranford Club.
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There are many organizations that we depend upon.\u00a0 These include:\u00a0 Community Foundation of NW Connecticut, Music for Food at Music Mountain, Immaculate Conception Church, The Boy Scouts of America, CropWalk, The Canaan Foundation, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, The Archdiocese of Hartford, Daughters of Isabella, The Salisbury Rotary Club, Geer Village, Northwest Connecticut YMCA, North Canaan Elementary School, Local 1303 AFSCME, AFL-CIO, Berkshire School and Salisbury School.\u00a0 Salisbury Bank holds collections for food and money on a regular basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helping people get enough food for their families is gratifying work for the staff of Fishes and Loaves<\/em> and a critical mission for our church.\u00a0 We feel it is an honor and are all committed to what we do.\u00a0 We strive to make people feel comfortable and welcome at Pilgrim House.\u00a0 We care.\u00a0 We help people cope with the struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bill Knutson finishes unloading a huge donation from The Seventh Day Adventist Church.\u00a0 This is the south storage room before it got a major facelift.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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More and more kids are visiting the pantry now that school is out for the summer.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

We are more than just peanut butter, jelly and tuna fish.\u00a0 We are a community mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are about making people feel more secure about where their food is coming from.\u00a0 Our clients depend on us to provide some of their staples; whether that is potatoes or rice, tuna fish or peanut butter, onions or apples, cereal or mac and\u0080\u0099 cheese, milk, eggs, chicken, beef, pork, black-eyed peas, hummus chips, green beans, spinach, cabbage, kale and bread.
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We are available \"Pantry<\/a>to anyone from Canaan, Falls Village or Norfolk who needs food.\u00a0 Some folks need help for just a week or two and others for a more extended period of time. Looking toward the future, we have these goals:<\/span><\/p>\n