How Food Bank Functions During COVID
By: Hope Allem
The Dutchess Outreach: Beverly Closs Food Pantry is open during their normal hours of operation with added COVID safety guidelines for volunteers and anyone in need of food or groceries.
Located just outside of the Family Partnership Center at 29 North Hamilton St. in Poughkeepsie, the pantry is functioning “with a small core team of volunteers,” stated Sarah Salem, Director of Development at the Dutchess county outreach. The staff will be set-up outside for anyone in need of groceries on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:30am to 11:00 am.
The staff pre-packages a number of uniform grocery bags for each day that can be picked up by Dutchess County residents after providing photo ID of themselves and anyone else they are claiming groceries for. The pantry will provide three days worth of emergency food for each person in the household, including any formula needed for babies or personal hygiene items such as toothpaste, soap, feminine hygiene products, etc. These personal essentials now also include facemasks and hand sanitizer to help aid people in protesting themselves against the virus.
For anyone in need of a hot meal, although it is no longer possible to dine in, staff are still dedicated to providing meals, but now as a grab and go. Lunch is served Monday-Friday from 11:15 am to 1:00 pm and Sunday from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. Dinner is served Monday-Friday from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. These meals are open to all, no ID needed.
Although the amount of people inquiring to donate and volunteer has been exponential, the pantry is trying to maintain limited contact to provide food safely and efficiently. On the Outreach website the staff has thanked all who inquired about volunteer positions and how to donate food, but explain that due to COVID-19 the staff is deterring these contributions. Instead they ask people to consider making monetary donations through the Dutchess Outreach website, http://dutchessoutreach.org/. The organization will put these donations towards acquiring foods and other essentials that many are in need of at this time.
