Groton Food Pantry featured on public TV

When Jessamine (Jess) Stone became the coordinator of the Groton Food Pantry (GFP) in January 2019, she did so with the help of her husband, Mike Stone, and their six children, along with a clear vision that the pantry would extend far beyond just handing out food. She wanted to reverse any negative feelings anyone might have about coming as a patron by making sure everyone felt connected and valued.

Beginning her third year at the pantry’s helm, Jess has built the program to a place where her dreams have become a well-recognized reality in the Groton community and beyond.

The Food Bank of the Southern Tier is one of the GFP’s most valued partners, and its president and CEO, Natasha Thompson, also happens to be the host of WSKG’s PBS program, “Chasing the Dream,” which focuses on poverty awareness in this region.

Now in its third season, episode five aired March 12, in which Jess was featured as head of one of two food pantries selected for having gone “above and beyond” during the COVID-19 pandemic. That recording may be viewed at pbs.org/video/chasing-the-dream-food-pantries-and-food-banks-xb0u3z.

Sincerely humbled by the honor, Jess was able to convey some of what has been accomplished at the GFP during her segment of the show, but there is much more to the story.

By the end of Jess’s first full year as coordinator, the GFP was running like a well-oiled machine, with a staff of 17 serving 90 families who were able to choose the food they wanted each week by filling out an order form for what was available to them.

Then the pandemic hit, and while other food pantries in the area resorted to pre-packed food boxes, Jess was not willing to go that route.

“People had choices taken away from them in every other realm of their lives,” Jess said. “So, if I could at least continue to give them choices of good quality food, then that’s what I was going to do.”

Patron food choice turned out to be the least of the pandemic’s obstacles to be overcome in 2020. Jess explained that she had to essentially rebuild the program from the ground up.

“With most of my staff being age 70 or older, I lost all but my own family and one other volunteer who is still with me, Paul Eveleigh,” Jess said. “But when folks in this community recognized the need, I suddenly had a new staff of over 27.”

Jess explained that during the first few weeks of the pandemic, families would drive up to fill out their order forms, which the staff would fill and bring out to them, but wait time was too long and traffic was a problem.

Jess knew something had to change. After much research, she found a solution called “PDF filler,” which has worked well because it can be texted, put on the GFP Facebook page or emailed, so it accommodates most people’s accessibility.

Those without access to any sort of technology phone their orders in, which at last count was 28 families. Jess’s oldest daughters, Lila and Cassandra, make those calls weekly.

“That turned out to be a godsend because we are now serving 450 families,” Jess said.

Jess expressed how inspired she has been by the way the Groton community stepped up to meet GFP needs in 2020.

“Donations were off the charts, especially monetary,” Jess said. “In 2019, they were about $5,000, but in 2020, they topped over $17,000.”

Jess also spoke about Matt Winters, owner of Hometown Pizza in Groton, who provided meals for the GFP staff every week in December; Kevin Griffin of Casper’s Kitchen, who put on a free Thanksgiving meal and took in $800 in donations for the pantry; volunteers who sewed free masks for pantry patrons; and Donna Berich, Babs Carr and Tracy Cooper, who cleaned up the GFP landscaping.

Student Council and several clubs at Groton Central School, as well as the Groton Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, held bottle and can drives totaling more than $2,000.

JK’s Can and Bottle Return generously gives $0.06 per unit for donations going to the GFP, and that continues for anyone wishing to designate their recycled cans and bottles to benefit the pantry — just let them know you’d like your return money to be donated to the GFP.

“If it wasn’t for my team and members of this community helping any way they could, there’s no way we could have done this for a year, and especially not done it well,” Jess said.

The work goes on, and food insecurity is far from over. Monetary donations are always welcome and may be sent to the GFP c/o Groton Assembly of God, 701 S. Main St., Groton, NY 13073. Food donations are accepted by contacting Jess at grotonfoodproviders18@gmail.com for arrangements.

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

Easter meals from the GFP

Through assistance from the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, the GFP was able to secure provisions for Easter meals for its patrons. Pre-registration is required at https://pdf.ac/spT2N. The cutoff to order is March 21 by 11:59 p.m. Meals must be picked up between 1 and 5:30 p.m. March 26.

Each meal box will contain a beautiful Smithfield spiral ham, boxed scalloped potato mix, cans of green beans, corn, and pineapple, multipurpose baking mix, dried fruit and nut mix, and butter.

Youth baseball and softball

The Groton Youth Baseball and Softball league is accepting registrations through March 30 for youth aged 4 to 12. Groton residency is not required to participate. Cost is $35 for the first player, $25 each for siblings.

Online registration and information may be found at grotonyouthbaseball.com, by email to grotonyouthbaseball@gmail.com or by calling 607-379-5217.

Kindergarten registration

Groton Elementary School is preparing for the September 2021 kindergarten class. If your child was born on or before December 1, 2016, they are eligible for entry this fall. To register, please call the school at (607) 898-5853.