The Family Pantry of Cape Cod (Family Pantry of Cape Cod Corp The)

The Family Pantry of Cape Cod has the vision to eliminate hunger on Cape Cod, supported by the mission of providing food and clothing to those in need regardless of who you are or where you live. The Cape is know as an affluent seasonal community. However, as in many seasonal community the year round workforce often struggles to make ends meet during the off season. The Pantry is no longer an "emergency pantry" helping to offset a job loss or significant injury. The Pantry is now a "sustaining" pantry, one that allows the seasonal worker to remain on Cape during the off season. Over 60% of our clients have one if not two working members in the household. We estimate that approximately 25% of our clients leave us due to better circumstances, better jobs or relocation. However, in 2018 we have seen an 11% increase in new clients, predominately in the service industry. The Family Pantry makes it possible for these people to afford to live on the Cape, and raise their families in a safe and welcoming community. The service industry labor force is critical to the economical welfare of the Cape community.

The Family Pantry is the only pantry of the Cape to serve the entire Cape and without restrictions. We base our food distributions on the Federal Poverty Guidelines when determining how much food a family can receive. However, no family or individual leaves the Pantry without food. We are a choice pantry meaning that clients select the foods they would like to receive, ensuring the food is consumed and not wasted. The Pantry is known for providing a vast selection of foods including dry goods, meat, produce, dairy, seafood, & bread. The Pantry is proud to provide at least 35% of all foods distributed as fresh produce. The Pantry also supports the Foods To Encourage program where the community is encouraged to come to the Pantry weekly to sit with a registered dietician and nurse to monitor blood pressure, diabetes and heart issues. The Healthy Meals on Motion mobile pantry is a means to serve clients on the lower cape who carry the additional burden of limited year round employment and transportation. Lastly, but certainly not least is our own Family Pantry garden, each year the garden produces over 3 tons of produce that is freely distributed to clients without restrictions.

The Family Pantry has a strong sustainability plan. The Pantry owns the Second Glance Thrift Boutique which is known as "the Nordstrom's" of thrift on Cape Cod. Sales at Second Glance now cover almost 33% of the operating expense of the Pantry. In addition, the bottles and can recycling revenue stream provides another 3% to the food program and the textile recycling stream contributes almost 2% to the food program. The Family Pantry is a member of the Cape Cod Hunger Network and is on the advisory council of the Greater Boston Food Bank. The Pantry also partners with the Cape Cod Fishermen's Alliance encouraging the Fishermen to provide species that are not as well known, such as skate, mackerel and scup for consumption at the Pantry. This partnership keeps the fishermen fishing, provides a valuable protein source for the clients and introduces lesser known species to the Cape community. The Family Pantry operates a satellite food pantry on the Cape Cod Community College Campus in Hyannis to help lessen the food insecurity of College students, staff and faculty. Over 200 families access the campus pantry and are able to choose a full bag of non-perishable groceries each week. It is difficult to concentrate when a person is consumed with where their next meal will come from. This small pantry is working to break the cycle of poverty, providing food to students, so they can concentrate on earning their degree.

The Family Pantry mission is very simple: provide food and clothing for those in need. The focus remains firmly on these two areas. There are many organizations across the Cape that meet other demands of the community. Having enough to eat is fundamental to well being, the Pantry ensures that children, individuals and families have food to eat and clothes to wear. Last June we increased the food and clothing distributions to every 14 days, eliminating much of the stress felt as a home pantry empties.

In 2022 the Pantry continued to face the Pandemic head on and was able to continue providing a "choice" pantry for our families. We feel it is critical that our families are able to choose the foods they want to offer their families. We were able to do this by moving to a curbside operation and leveraging the shopping list that is used in our Mobile Food Pantry operation. The Pantry served over 11,600people in 2022 and distributed over 132,000 bags of food. The Pantry has re-engaged the "reimagine committee" concept to move us forward post Covid-19 incorporating all of the efficiencies learned during the Pandemic. We continue to distribute over 35% of fresh produce and we are pleased that our clients can shop with us every 10 days.