While the traditional picture of Thanksgiving is a crowded table laden with food, for many people that is not a realistic picture.
The Westbrook Food Pantry is looking to make sure that families who need some assistance are able to put Thanksgiving dinner on the table this week, and has received a great deal of help from both the city and residents to make sure that goal is fulfilled.
This weekend, food pantry volunteers as well as members of the city’s Public Services Department and Cub Scouts worked to help assemble boxes to be given to needy families for the holiday.
On Friday morning, Food Pantry Director Jeanne Rielly met Dana Bellefountaine and Wendy Mitchell of the Public Services Department to pick up a truckload of food and haul it to the pantry in anticipation of the holiday.
Together, they braved the early morning cold to drop off 800 pounds of potatoes, 300 pounds of onions, 300 pounds of apples, as well as boxes and boxes of canned fruits and vegetables and pie crust mixes.
On Tuesday morning, the volunteers would be adding a turkey, or in some cases, chicken breasts to the boxes. All in all, Rielly said she purchased about $1,200 worth of food from Hannaford’s using money donated to the food pantry.
In addition, Rielly said Cumberland Farms is donating 150 loaves of bread and 100 boxes of donuts to include in the Thanksgiving boxes.
Mitchell, who was helping unload the truck despite being 3-and-a-half-months pregnant with twins, said helping out gave her a good feeling. “It’s great making sure everybody gets a Thanksgiving dinner,” she said.
Pushing a heavy cart loaded with canned goods down a hallway at the Dana Warp Mill, Bellefountaine said he was glad the city took an active role in helping the pantry. “We’re just helping the people of the city,” he said.
The food pantry could not function without the assistance of the Public Services Department, Rielly said. All throughout the year, the department helps the pantry by picking up food and delivering it to the pantry’s space in its trucks. Rielly said the help is invaluable.
“They are always there to accommodate us,” she said. “We just couldn’t do it without them.”
With the food safely delivered, it was time for another group of volunteers to help assemble the boxes of food. On Saturday morning, a group of local children spent a couple hours helping to fill boxes with food.
Food Pantry President Ann Brown said about 10 adults and seven kids spent Saturday morning filling about 140 boxes.
The kids all had different reasons for spending their Saturday morning at the food pantry.
“I wanted to help other people,” 8-year-old Cassidy Webster said.
Stephanie Brown, 12, said it made her feel really good to help other people. Her 10-year-old brother Darren Brown also said he liked filling the baskets.
“I’m glad other families will have a good Thanksgiving,” added their 7-year-old sister Kari Brown.
Rielly’s granddaughters, 5-year-old Maura Rielly and 8-year-old Shannon Rielly, also helped pitch in. “I wanted to help people,” Maura Rielly said.
Shannon Rielly also said she wanted to help out other people, but she had a more immediate reason for being there. “I wanted to help out grandma,” she said.
Thirteen-year-old Katie Murphy was initially reluctant to give up her Saturday morning, but she said she enjoyed herself. “My mom made me go,” she said. “But it was also a lot of fun.”
While only a small number of kids helped assemble the boxes, many of Westbrook’s school children helped out with a number of food drives to benefit the food pantry. Brown said students and staff from Wescott Junior High School collected about 30 boxes of food and delivered it on Friday. Additionally, Prides Corner School is currently running a food drive, and students and staff from Congin School just donated 22 boxes of food as well.
Standing in the pantry’s storage space surrounded by food that will eventually become Thanksgiving dinner for about 150 families, Rielly said she is thankful for all the help extended to the food pantry. She said she can see how helping out and making sure a family is able to put dinner on the table helps make volunteers feel good this holiday season.
“It makes people who can give very happy, almost as happy as the people who get the box of food,” she said. “It’s happy on both sides of the equation.”
food pantry kids A group of volunteers helped fill the Westbrook Food Pantry fill 140 boxes of food on Saturday morning. Pictured (front row) Maura Rielly. Middle row (left to right) Shannon Rielly, Kari Brown, Darren Brown. Back row (left to right) Katherine Murphy, Stephanie Brown. 
Westbrook Public Services Department employees Dana Bellefountaine and Wendy Mitchell unload boxes of food at the Westbrook Food Pantry Friday morning.
Dana Bellefountaine of the Westbrook Public Services Department helps Food Pantry Director Jeanne Rielly unload food earmarked for Thanksgiving dinners at the Food Pantry on Friday.
Food pantry boxes Vounteers helped fill 150 boxes of food at the Food Pantry Saturday morning. The boxes will be given to needy families this week for Thanksgiving dinners.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
