Presidents Report
Goffstown Network, Inc
June 4, 2013
Introduction
Overall traffic at the Goffstown Network Food Pantry remained steady over the past twelve months. Last year at this time, we were hoping for signs of a slowing in demand for pantry services. Unfortunately, that never came. But we are at least happy to report that the steady increases we have seen each year since 2005 have finally abated. The pantry remains in good shape, despite this elevated demand level, thanks in large part to moves our leadership team made a year ago to make our operation more sustainable.
There are many we need to thank for our continued good fortune. The communities of Goffstown, Dunbarton and New Boston continue to provide us with the steady, year-round support we need to keep going. In addition to the several food drives held each year (see “highlights”), and the regular donations we receive at the pantry and at our drop boxes in Shaw’s and Hannaford’s, many businesses in town held food drives of their own, particularly during the holiday season. All three grocery stores in town have been very cooperative, helpful, and generous. We have a terrific relationship with Goffstown area schools; each holds a can drive on our behalf during the holiday season. The churches in town continue to be strong supporters of our organization, whether through the donation of space, food or cash. Many civic organizations in town have supported us generously as well. And individuals and families have continued to do the same.
We continue to enjoy tremendous volunteer support as well. This past year we have seen a lot of new faces around the pantry. This is a challenge for us, as the operation of the pantry has become much more complex than in years past, owing to many of the changes we have made. We employ approximately 80 volunteers, whetherrunning the regular operation of our pantry, purchasing food, or helping in various ways during our holiday programs andmany food drives throughout the year. Youth volunteer participation has slowed the past twelve months; that is something we would definitely like to improve. They provide much needed muscle, and they infuse our operation with a youthful spirit.
We have a strong team of food purchasers working to keep our shelves well-stocked. Our current team consists of Dick Wood, Roger Fortier, Jeff and Joan Stevens,and Alice Belanger. Roughly three quarters of the food we distribute comes through them, whether from the NH Food bank, local retailers, or our participation in the USDA TEFAP program.In addition to basic staples, they procure an array of frozen meat, produce, breads and other items. They work hard, and their efforts are very much appreciated.
Lastly, I’d like to saya word about the leadership of the Goffstown Network. I am so thankful to them for all that they do. This past year Rebecca Barlow has volunteered to take on the coordination of volunteers,taking the place of long-time coordinator Dallas Lavigne. We’re very pleased to have Becky join the team. We thank Dallas for her work coordinating volunteers, she set a high standard. She will continue to coordinate special events. I’m also pleased to welcome long-time purchaser Roger Fortier to the Board of Directors, replacing Steve Sarette as Vice President. Steve is planning to concentrate more on programs at St. Lawrence Catholic Church. We’re going to miss Steve; we thank him for his service, and wish him and Dawn well in their new endeavor.
Serving Officers:
President:Dave Greiner
Vice President:Roger Fortier
Secretary: Susan Yost
Treasurer: Barbara Herman
Volunteer Coordinator:Rebecca Barlow
Youth VolunteersCoord.: Kathleen Duncklee
Purchasers:Dick Wood, Roger Fortier, Jeff & Joan Alayne Stevens,
Alice Belanger, Eric Woudenberg
Weekly Collections:Aime & Alice Belanger
Client Statistics:Kristin Shaw
Holiday Program Coord.: Julie Greiner
Special Events Coord.: Dallas Lavigne
Highlights of the Year 2012-2013
Direction
Thanks to the hard work of our purchasers, and the continued generosity of our community, this year we are as well positioned going into summer as I have seen in some time. It comes as a surprise to many, but summer is our most difficult period. Due to a variety of factors, donations slow to a trickle, and many of the agencies we rely on for supplies face the same problem. If we were to track our supply over the course of a year, it would peak around or just after the holidays, then decline at a fairly steady rate until early September, when we bottom out. For several years in a row, we have had to resort to purchasing some supplies at retail prices in August and September, something we hate to do because it is so expensive for us. I still expect some random shortages to develop; we will deal with these as they occur.Our participation in the USDA “The Emergency Food Assistance Program”has been a big boost. Since joining TEFAP, we run out of items less frequently. What’s more, for the first time in a very long time, we were actually able to increase on occasion what we hand out to clients. Our Board of Directors meets monthly; we are always looking for ways to improve the pantry.
Facilities
We continue to enjoy the use of the St. Matthew’s Parish House as our Pantry location. We are grateful to St. Matthew’s for their generous donation of this space. When we are open for business on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, we pretty much take over the building and parking lot. We now have one freezer upstairs, three downstairs, and two in the back of the 9 N.Mast St. building, plus one full size refrigerator upstairs and two downstairs. The third freezer downstairs was added this past year. Despite the added capacity, and owing to the unstable nature of our supply, we still occasionally find ourselves wanting for space. At various times this past year, we have had situations when all freezers were completely full, and then otheroccasions when we almost ran out of frozen meats. The Thanksgiving Program was again held at the Masonic Temple; the Christmas Program at St. Lawrence Catholic Church. Thanks to both for generously allowing us to use their space.
USDA TEFAP
We are finishing our second year with this program, and it continues to pay dividends. The program food comes to us in large deliveries every two months. Handling these pickups (usually on a weekday morning) has presented a challenge;we’re still working on ways to handle them. We are hoping to build a ramp in the Parish House basement to enable us to slide deliveries down to the basement where they are stored. This will help not only with the USDA food, but also the Food Bank purchases.
New Hampshire Food Bank
The New Hampshire Food Bank does a great job serving agencies like ours in New Hampshire. Using donated funds, we purchase the majority of our food from them at sharply discounted prices. We continue to be very pleased with our relationship with them. The transition to an online ordering system is now complete. While there are some issues, overall it has been a positive experience.
Schools
We continue to enjoy, and benefit from, a close relationship with area schools. All the schools in Goffstownconduct a holiday food drive on our behalf just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, with the exception of the Goffstown High School, who do theirs prior to Christmas. As they do every year, the schools collected and donated an incredible amount of food. Our thanks to the administration, faculty, staff, the students and their familiesat Mountain View Middle School, Maple Ave and Bartlet Elementary Schools, Glen Lake School, The Villa, and New Morning School in Bedford. The Goffstown High School Christmas food drive was a great success again this year.Coordinated by the Student Council, the school holds a massive drive during mid-December. Their donations provide the bulk of what we use for our Christmas giveaway program, and allow us to run this program without having to spend huge amounts of cash to purchase food. As always, the Student Council students were well organized and energetic.
Thanks to Principal Frank McBride, the faculty, staff, students and their families. Special thanks to the Student Council and their faculty advisors, Erin McKinnon and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Food Drives
Brown Bag Sunday – As they have for the last several years, community churches held an ingathering of donations to our food pantry in the fall. As in the past, this ingathering came at a good time, as our shelves were almost bare after the slow summer months. As is usually the case, the St. Lawrence Parish Community in particular gathered quite a bit of food. We continue to enjoy a close relationship with the churches in our town, and we are thankful to the clergy and parishioners for their generous support.
National Association of Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive – The largest single day food drive in the country, this is an important one for us. This year’s drive, conducted on May 11th, gathered 2700 lbs. in donations of food and personal items. Special thanks to Dave Grant, who has been the coordinator of this event at the Goffstown Post Office for several years now, and all the area letter carriers in Goffstown for making this event a continuing success story.
Goffstown Little League Baseball Drive – As they have for many years now, the directors of Goffstown Junior Baseball conducted a food drive on our behalf during the Opening DayParade ceremonies. Another example of the incredible generosity of the community, we thank the directors, team managers and coaches, players and their families, and especially GJB President Mike Santoro, who coordinated the event.
Boy Scouts – Another annual drive;once again this yearthe scouts brought the food they collected from within our community directly to our pantry, rather than taking it to a statewide gathering. We and they were very happy with the results; this drive has turned into a big one for us. Thanks to the scouts, their leaders, and the community.
Holiday Gift Basket Program
The annual Thanksgiving, and especially Christmas, gift programs are easily our most ambitious undertakings. This past year was no exception. Thankfully, this year we again enjoyed good weather for both, allowing them to run relatively smoothly. We’re very thankful to the many, many volunteers who came out to help us sort and distribute food. Thanks also to The Masons and to St. Lawrence Church, for their generous donation of the space we use for these programs, and to Julie Greiner, who helps coordinate this program every year.
Grow a Row
This past year we launched “Grow a Row”, a new program for us. The program seeks to encourage local gardeners to grow an extra row of vegetables for donation to the pantry. Despite being our first year with the program, Grow a Row was a rousing success, garnering just over 1000 lbs. of fresh, locally grown produce for distribution to our clients. We love this program because it’s a great way to get healthy, locally grown food to our clients. And, it adds yet another avenue for members of our community who want to help. Barbara Schult stepped up in a big way to shepherd the program, and many organizations in the community pitched in to help make it a success. We look forward to learning from last year andmaking improvements as we move forward. Special thanks to Barbara, and to The Goffstown Public Library, Goffstown Ace Hardware, Devriendt Farms, and Liberty Press for their help.
Going Green
The pantry has traditionally relied on the extensive use of plastic bags in food distribution. In an effort towards environmental sustainability, we are attempting to transition from plastic to re-usable bags. This presents some challenges, and may take some time, but we feel it will be worth it in the long-run. Thanks to Joan Alayne Stevens and Steve Sarette for helping guide this along.
Pantry Vehicle
We now have a vehicle mainly for use by the food purchasers, whether doing their regular bi-weekly runs to the NH Food Bank or to help out with collections at can drives and special events. Our sincere thanks to Roger and Brenda Fortier for their generous donation of this vehicle. It is a truly welcome addition for the purchasers, who have grown tired of the wear and tear on their own vehicles while making purchasing runs for the pantry. It also allows us to bring in more purchasers who, due to owning smaller vehicles, might not have been able to help in the past.
Respectfully Submitted
David Greiner, President
Goffstown Network, Inc.