Utility workers are supporting a Capital Region food pantry ahead of Thanksgiving.
Workers from National Grid’s Smith Avenue service department are bringing boxes of food to the Hope 7 Food Pantry in Troy.
They say Monday’s gathering including 14 boxes for area families is their way of helping to address high need in Troy ahead of the holiday.
Jennine Sakkestad, with National Grid, says the three-year-old program has roots in her company’s Christmas program, which is also run in partnership with Hope 7.
“One year, one of the directors said to us, ‘we have a Thanksgiving program, I'm not sure if you'd be interested.’ And I said, ‘Well, what is it?’ And they were like, ‘well, you feed families.’ I said, ‘Yeah, we're in’ and, like I said, that was our first year, five families. We thought that was great. And then I saw all of the food and all of the need. There was a line I said, ‘You know what? Next year we're going to do more,” Sakkestad said.
Sakkestad says the next year, they fed 10 families, 14 this year, and are hoping for 20 in 2025. She notes the Smith Ave crew, which includes 50 customer meter services and gas field operations reps, pools their own money to make the donation happen.
“We partnered this year with Aldi of Clifton Park. Shoutout to the managers, the store managers, Elijah and Rich, who could not have been more helpful to us. We told them we'd like to feed some families. They put it all together for us,” Sakkestad said.
Hope 7 Executive Director Maggie Hall says her organization, which serves East Troy and Wynantskill, is seeing a lot of need this year.
“I believe we're doing 153 Thanksgiving baskets, which is the most that we've done so far. So it's unfortunate that so many people need help, but we're happy to be able to provide that help for people and just give them a great Thanksgiving,” Hall said.
She says the need has grown since COVID, and food pantry coordinator Sherri Capparello agrees. Capparello says need has gone up by half, noting more than 1,100 people from the nearby area make use of the pantry monthly.
“We typically feed people on this side of Hoosick Street, so the Eastside of Troy, part of South Troy, and Wynantskill,” Capparello said.
“And even in that small area, there’s-?”
“Just in that small area, we have 250 families a month here,” Capparello said.
Capparello says the nearby Hannaford donates food, including meat, produce, and bread, every weekday, and staples fly off the shelves.
“Peanut butter, tuna, macaroni and cheese and meat, because we're kind of known for our meat here, since Hannaford does give us the meat every day. But people are also under the impression that the Regional Food Bank food that we get is free, but it is not. We spend about $4,000 a month on Regional Food Bank food, which is what we have the most of in our pantry.”
In response, Michael-Aaron Poindexter, the Regional Food Bank's Chief Program Officer, tells WAMC in a statement “[a] vast majority of the food we provide is completely free. But for some staple items that we regularly purchase ourselves to maintain a steady inventory, food banks across the country tack on a very small fee to offset some of the costs. It’s important to note that our agency partners are able to obtain food from us for a fraction of the cost they would otherwise pay, and oftentimes this is offset by state grants like HPNAP.”
In order to keep a food pantry running, it takes volunteers. Many have worked there for years, like Barbara and Bill Cocco of Troy, who have been at it for 12 years.
“Every Monday, we go to the Regional Food Bank and pick up their produce, and we bring anywhere from four to 600 pounds of produce here,” Cocco said.
Retirees, they say it’s a good way to stay in shape.
“On Wednesdays, we go to Hannaford and they donate bread, produce and meat, and then we load that into the Blazer and we bring that here,” Cocco said.
Barbara says there’s one person who came in who really sticks with her.
“It was a woman a few years ago, she got her bag, and she figured out that we were the people that brought it, and she had tears in her eyes. And I went, ‘what's wrong?’ Her son was a diabetic. She couldn't afford to buy the proper vegetables and fruits, and we supplied him with that every week,” Cocco said.
Bill says he and Barbara, both in their eighties, will keep volunteering as long as they can.
“We hang in there, and I don't know, as we get older, it's probably day by day, you know. But so far, we've been predictable. So yeah, and we would like to continue, because it's a good cause,” Cocco said.
In addition to volunteers, college students can also intern with Hope 7. Lantana Kalirou is a senior Human Services student at nearby Hudson Valley Community College. She says it’s been a good first internship.
“I feel like it's actually getting me a beginner start to see how can I be able to aid people in finding resources, in this community, in Troy, to be able to find a food pantry that can help with people who have food insecurities,” Kalirou said.
