LYNN — The Catholic Charities food pantry on Silsbee Street received $50,000 in the state Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget to continue serving families in the Greater Lynn area who are struggling with food insecurity.
Since it opened in October 2022, the pantry has served more than 8,000 clients in the region.
“We’re approaching three times our volume of the second quarter, when we’re open currently, and it’s just never ending as far as the new clients that we’re serving,” Director of Food Pantries Christine Keller said.
She said after the pandemic, the old way of thinking about food pantries as a temporary measure shifted into a realization that for many families, the need is consistent.
“We hope that they feel welcome to come to our space and be supported with healthy foods,” Keller added.
Keller said they also hired a new food pantry coordinator, Richard Gonzalez, at the location who is bringing in experience from the grocery industry.
“He’s going to help us step up our game as far as what products that we’re offering and how we can better serve our clients,” she said. “We’re always looking to improve the services that we’re offering. We know we don’t get everything perfect, and we do try every day to do better.”
She added a goal of theirs is to build a stronger relationship with their clients, adding they are developing a new intake process that will hopefully allow them to connect clients with as many needed resources as possible, whether it is helping with SNAP applications or connecting them with the Massachusetts Housing Coalition, or English Language Learning classes.
“Part of that will be to talk a little bit with our clients and understand the experience that has led them to needing to come to the food pantry,” Keller said.
She said Catholic Charities also tries to provide generalized outreach, such as providing families with lists of local pantries with information about when they are open and qualifications for visiting.
“We’re committed to continuing to develop strength in that area where we need to improve,” Keller said.
