It’s time to say thanks to so many of the Westbrook community who have helped the Food Pantry move from Lincoln Street to the old St. Hyacinth School on Walker Street.
Thanks to the City Council and President Brendan Rielly, Mayor Bruce Chuluda, and City Administrator Jerre Bryant for the financial support of the move to the new location. Thanks to Allan Bickford, director of maintenance for Westbrook Schools, who supervised the project from researching locations to directing the repairs and improvements to the new site. David Moon, Peter Wilson, and their students from the Regional Vocational School handled all the electrical work, so necessary to the freezers and the refrigerator. Peter Foye of Foye’s Carpet Specialists took care of removing the old carpet and putting down new carpet in the three rooms we now have. Father Reggie Brissette, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish, guided the process of leasing the space from the diocese for two years.
A special group of young people under the direction of Kyle Goan scrubbed and painted the walls and helped move all the food. Kyle is working toward his Eagle Scout designation. Chris Dubois, Keegan Goan, Nate Gowan, Danielle Good, Samantha Good, Elisabeth Perkins, and Katherine Murphy were the Scouts who helped. Kyle’s parents, Nancy and Greg Goan, worked very hard assisting Kyle in this endeavor.
We would not have our pantry without the very hard work of many of our Public Works and School Maintenance men who moved the freezers and shelves from one place to the other. They even had to pave a driveway up to our new door. Paul Concannon, a volunteer with the parish, is now helping with remaining fix-it problems.
We reopened Tuesday, July 11, serving around 250 households from noon to 2 p.m. and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. There is always a need for food drives and for volunteers, so stop in any Tuesday to see what’s happening.
Jeanne Rielly, Kay Amabile, Sondra Taylor, Ann Bittner, Georgie Varrell,
Food Pantry volunteers
Send questions/comments to the editors.
