The Peterborough Food Pantry will have a new home as of June 6, when the organization reopens its doors in the former All Saints Church Serendipity Shop space in Reynolds Hall on Hancock Street (Route 202). 

“We are very excited to move into this new space. We think it will be great for our customers and our volunteers,” Glo Morison, director of the Peterborough Food Pantry, said Tuesday. 

Tuesday  was the last shift in the food pantry’s old space in the Peterborough Community Center due to construction on the building. 

“We’ve always known at some point we might have to move depending on what was happening with the town, so we started looking around for space,” Morison said. “One of our board members is also on the board at All Saints Church, and he brought up the Serendipity Shop space, which was vacant,  so we went over and looked. ” 

The food pantry will be closed Friday, May 30; Monday, June 2,; and Wednesday, June 4, and will reopen on Friday, June 6, in the new location at 50 Hancock St. Morison said her board is working on getting new signage as soon as possible to direct people to the new space. 

Residents needing food assistance while the pantry is closed should contact the food pantry by sending email to info@pfoodpantry.org, calling 603-924-3008 or checking for announcements at pfoodpantry.org.

Morison said she “did not expect to like” the basement space in Reynolds Hall, which was damaged by the flooding of the Contoocook River in 2018. 

“But it turned out the space was in good enough shape that we  could move right in,” Morison said. “After the floods, they installed flood gates or a flood wall on the river, so should the river overflow again, we will be protected. (The Rev. Jennifer L. Walters) and the caretaker, Ryan Courtenay, do an excellent job maintaining the property.” 

 The pantry will be upgrading the electricity and making other minor changes to the former Serendipity Shop space. 

“After we went in there and  saw it, I started to get excited about it,” Morison said. “It has great parking and a little more privacy for our customers; they will be a little less exposed. It is  still close enough to town that people could ride a bike or walk in nice weather. We’ll also have in big room instead of two small rooms, will be easier for our volunteers, because they won’t have to constantly restocking the smaller room; now we can get everything out there.” 

According the Morison, the food pantry board created a “Move Team” to figure the details and logistics of the move. 

“Once we got in there and measured all of our shelving and our refrigerators and freezers and desks,  we could figure how to make it work. We have people working on layout,  and what shelves will go where there. Our board has been absolutely great, and it’s really been relatively easy, ” Morison said.

The change has resulted in a new partnership between and the PFP and All Saints Church, which has been a longtime supporter of the food pantry. 

“We looked at our mission and their mission, and they are every closely aligned. After Pastor Walters announced we are coming, we got several new volunteers from All Saints. They are really excited, and we are really excited to be working together,” Morison said. “It’s going to be a nice relationship.” 

The Peterborough Food Pantry is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and the first and third Saturdays of each month. The pantry serves residents of Antrim, Bennington,  Dublin, Francestown, Greenfield, Greenville, Hancock , Jaffrey,  New Ipswich, Peterborough, Rindge,  Sharon and Temple. To apply for assistance, go to pfoodpantry.org/pages/peterborough-food-pantry.