The Peterborough Food Pantry is now open at 52 Concord St. in Peterborough, in the lower level of the All Saints’ Church Reynolds Hall building.
The pantry moved out of the Peterborough Community Center due to renovations at the center and the upcoming construction of the new Peterborough Fire and Rescue Station.
“We are so grateful to All Saints’ Church for all their help and support; they’re not charging us rent. We realized we have a lot of overlap, and our missions are very aligned and can help one another out — things like, we had a bunch of tomatoes we needed to use up quickly, and the church took them for their community supper. It’s a really nice back and forth,” said Gloria Morison, director of the Peterborough Food Pantry.
The Peterborough Food Pantry is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and alternate Saturdays. Volunteer Lynne Kokoski, who manages data for the organization, said visits to the food pantry have been “on the uptick.”
“We are seeing a lot of working families with young children, extended families, people taking care of family members. People who just need help,” Kokoski said.
The food pantry’s new home was previously occupied by the Serendipity Shop, which closed during the COVID pandemic and was damaged by flooding. The church constructed flood mitigation, which should protect the space from future water damage.
“So far, it has been really great and we are really happy with the new space,” said Morison. “We have more room on the shelves and it’s one big room, so we don’t have to be constantly restocking from one room to another. It’s easier to serve our customers and keep track of what we have.”
Morison said the customers seem to appreciate the more-convenient parking and the increased privacy.
“People feel maybe a little less exposed at this location,” she said.
The new space has an entire room housing the food pantry’s refrigerators and freezers, which store meats, produce and frozen specials.
“The refrigeration equipment required an electric upgrade; it really uses a lot of power,” Morison said.
The space also has a small kitchen which can be used by staff and volunteers.
“It’s brighter and cheerier; we have a back door where we can take out the trash; and we have our own bathroom now,” Morison said. “We’re so grateful this worked out.”
The Peterborough Food Pantry serves 13 towns in the Monadnock region: Antrim, Bennington, Dublin, Francestown, Greenfield, Greenville, Hancock, Jaffrey, New Ipswich, Peterborough, Rindge, Sharon and Temple. The pantry is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and the first and third Saturdays from 9 tp 11 a.m.
For information, go to pfoodpantry.org.