Volunteers Are the Force Behind the Norfolk Food Pantry

By Colleen Gundlach

The Norfolk Food Pantry today serves about 60 families per week, providing food to about 800 people in total. That’s a big jump from the early years when the pantry fed an average of eight to 10 families. 

“The statistics are striking. The number of people served by the pantry has increased every single month since it began,” says Lynn Deasy, the pantry’s director. (For more about Lynn, see “Know Your Neighbor on page 17.) She attributes the most recent growth in numbers to sharp increases in the price of groceries. “People are forced to make difficult decisions. With the outrageous increase in the cost of electricity and housing, it becomes a choice between food and shelter for many people.”

Many past clients were retired people on fixed income. Deasy said that over the past six to eight months, the pantry has been seeing many more young working families who cannot make ends meet even with two people working.

Deasy says regular volunteers make the Norfolk Food Pantry run smoothly, including a core group of five who take turns staffing it from Tuesday through Friday.” Volunteers also handle the shopping. At this point, the pantry spends between $1,000 and $1,400 a week, supported mostly by donations. Deasy reports that volunteer David Gourley makes two to three trips to the grocery store a week and that he goes out of his way to make sure the pantry is always stocked.

“Since [the volunteers] are there regularly, they get to know the clients. “I listen to the volunteers talking with the clients,” says Deasy, “and I hear them asking about the members of a client’s family or what they plan to do that day. They really get know them as individuals.” 

Pantry volunteers meet once a month to discuss the business aspects of running the program, which operates under the non-profit umbrella of the Church of Christ. The pantry has its own bank account, separate from the church because Deasy said some people were uncomfortable contributing through the church, even though the Food Pantry is a town-wide initiative. 

A large portion of funding for the pantry comes from individual donations, but people are creative about finding other ways to contribute. For example, five business professionals created a group called Stock the Shelves ask other businesses to do a fund drive for food pantries. The idea has taken off, and a recent effort in Torrington netted 800 boxes of cereal, 250 of which were donated to Norfolk’s pantry. 

Ruthann Olsson, whose interior arts and design shop is relocating, held a two-day sale, with all proceeds going to the Norfolk Food Pantry. So did the free-will offering at Open Mic night at Church of Christ. And a bread club started by Felix Graham-Jones baked 80 loaves of cranberry-nut bread that were included in the Thanksgiving baskets distributed by the pantry. Deasy was able to obtain a grant to purchase a refrigerator freezer, which allows the pantry to be able to purchase and store items such as meats and milk. Local farms and backyard gardeners donate produce during growing season with 380 pounds of butternut squash donated in the last few weeks alone. 

Running concurrently with the pantry is the Clothes Closet, which accepts donations of gently used clothing. “Clients really, really like the Clothes Closet because they can come and pick out their own items,” Deasy says. A recent donation of 30 hand-made fleece blankets was distributed in just two days. 

Heading into Christmas, the Church of Christ is once again sponsoring an Angel Tree that enables community members to support parents who are unable to supply Christmas gifts for their children. For more information, visit https://norfolkucc.org/angel-tree-christmas-2024/. 

The Norfolk Food Pantry and the Clothes Tree are in the Battell Chapel of the Church of Christ, at 12 Litchfield Road. Hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.