By the Numbers

 

Numbers are rising In 2007 the number of visits to the pantry rose above 2000 for the first time. Through September of 2008 we have seen a 30% increase in the number of family visits over the same period of 2007.  The cost of food for the average family visit has also risen more than 25%. This double whammy is putting a strain on our resources.
How often do families visit the Food Share pantry? As the chart seen here indicates, the vast majority of families only come to the pantry one to three times during the course of a year. This indicates that we are serving as mainly an emergency food source for the majority of our clients.
Where do our clients come from?  80% of our clients come from our six target towns. In 2007 we also saw clients from 11 other towns. We never send people away without food, but we try to refer clients to food shelves that are closer to where they live.
Where do we get our food? About 1/4 of the food we give out comes from donations. The rest we purchase with donated funds. We buy our food from various retail outlets (Price Chopper, Hannaford's, Mac's Market, Big Lots, Rite Aid and more) and from the Vermont Foodbank. We purchase our milk and eggs from Morse's Dairy.	Where do we get our money? The majority of the money we spend comes from cash donations from members of our community- both individual and business. All six of our target towns (Eden, Elmore, Hyde Park, Morristown, Stowe and Wolcott) voted to support us with donations at town meeting this year. We are selling Maple Syrup and Tote bags with our logo.