Allan Appel Photo
Jacques McAdams’s solo business selling LPs to DJs began to tank a year ago. That’s why in the run-up to Thanksgiving he was again visiting the food pantry of the Jewish Family Service on Whalley Avenue in Westville.
McAdams (pictured) was one of 45 clients with appointments to pick up food between 8:30 and 9:30 Tuesday morning, and fairly typical of the middle and low income working people tossed out of jobs by the recession who are swelling the client list of JFS.
Two years ago the food pantry served about 170 people. Now it’s close to being maxed out at 312, Hagan said.
And it’s not just JFS pantry. According to Chief Executive Officer Nancy Carrington of the Connecticut Food Bank, “Unfortunately, people are hurting from this recession. And they are coming from small towns, suburbs, and cities. our network has seen an average 30 percent increase in need for food assistance.”
Amid the burst in demand, two volunteer efforts have been organized to help the JFS pantry this Sunday: One to bag special deliveries for Thanksgiving; the other, a fundraising walkathon in Westville (details here).
“We don’t turn anyone away,” Hagan added. And of course you don’t have to be Jewish.
Of the 312 families, about 125 are Jewish people. Of those approximately 75 are Russian immigrants, including Holocaust survivors.
Which is why you can learn how to say “organic section” or “whole grain pasta” in Russian if you peruse the brightly lit shelves of the pantry.
“In the last two years since the downturn we’re seeing more and more middle class people who say ‘I lost a job.’ We’ll use it [the food pantry] for a few months’ [they say]” until they get a job,” said Sandy Hagan, the coordinator of the food pantry for JFS.
Last year, Hagan (pictured) said, a lot of people in the real estate business were on her list. Some found jobs, called to say thanks, and cancel their appointments after seven or eight months.
Then again, new people come on a regular basis into the unprepossessing but welcoming storefront on Whalley at Westerleigh. The policy is to give out food as requested in case of an emergency no questions asked. A simple i.d. and income verification are required.
Two years ago the food pantry served about 170 people. Now it’s close to being maxed out at 312, Hagan said.
And it’s not just JFS pantry. According to Chief Executive Officer Nancy Carrington of the Connecticut Food Bank, “Unfortunately, people are hurting from this recession. And they are coming from small towns, suburbs, and cities. our network has seen an average 30 percent increase in need for food assistance.”
“We don’t turn anyone away,” Hagan added. And of course you don’t have to be Jewish.
The goal of the place is to make what is obviously a stressful experience as comfortable as possible.
The JFS pantry is one of 68 in the Greater New Haven region. It pioneered “client-choice.” Instead of being given a bag of whatever’s available, people shop up to a pound limit; that limit depends on whether you’re an individual like McAdams, or shopping for a family of four.
The oldest client is 98; the youngest, twin babies of four months. Hagan estimated that 500 to 600 people are being fed through the pantry.
Oone of the Russians corrected the sign for pasta, which in the Russian that had been offered on the first draft came out meaning apple sauce or some other “utter nonsense,” Hagan said.
Another group of longtime clients are people such as John Solomon. He lives on disability from two hip replacements and with four fingers reattached to his hand after a machine sliced them off, he said. His social security check and pension made it hard to make ends meet especially with his $1,000 per month Westville rent.
He’s been coming to JFS since 2005. “It’s like family here,” he said.
With Hagan and another paid employee from JFS, rent and the food purchasing budget add up to about $75,000 per year.
Individual pantries have to purchase much of their food from the Connecticut Food Bank, albeit at greatly reduced prices.
While 95 percent of the food comes from there, it’s not all free. Hagan and her volunteers caravan in their cars once a month to the warehouse and have one-half hour to pick up food for their clients, which they supplement from other sources, like needed food drives.
On a recent trip, she was able to get 540 pounds of apple sauce, macaroni, and dried milk, free through the federal government’s TEFAP, or Emergency Food Assistance Program.
Another good deal was 344 pounds of “salvage,” That refers to perfectly usable canned goods and other items at the food bank deposited from past food drives.
The shelves of the JFS pantry nearly emptied in the hour or so a reporter visited,
The JFS pantry is open only by appointment (and for emergencies) every Tuesday and every other Friday only between 8:30 and 11:45.
Thanksgiving, of course, is special. On Sunday Hagan and volunteers including kids from Amity High and the Hopkins School, and the B’nai Brith Youth Organization among others will be packing 250 bags with non-perishable items. That will be supplemented by $2,300 worth of gravy, corn, green beans, other side dishes, and dessert purchased from Stop & Shop and being delivered this week.
On Monday they’ll go to the Connecticut Food Bank for fresh vegetables and on Tuesday before the holiday to Stop and Shop to pick up 250 ten-dollar gift certificates toward the meat portion of the meal. “We don’t do turkeys,” Hagan said.
Before he left McAdams picked up his ticket entitling him to one of those bags. He said he knows he has to make changes in his music business to pick it up and keep with the times, but for now JFS pantry is a place he counts on, he said.
This day he was especially pleased with the cookies and as he doesn’t eat pork, he chose the ground turkey as the meat option, not the frozen Polish sausage.
Those interested in contributing or volunteering can call Hagan at the pantry: 203 – 397-0796