Local nursing home staff ‘spreads the love’ at Good Neighbors Food Pantry

St. Elizabeth Manor employees assist at city food pantry

Story and photos by Richard W Dionne Jr.
Posted 3/20/19

EAST PROVIDENCE — St. Elizabeth Manor employee Victoria Woolard thought it might be fun for members of the staff to help out at the Good Neighbors Food Pantry in East Providence, something the …

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Local nursing home staff ‘spreads the love’ at Good Neighbors Food Pantry

St. Elizabeth Manor employees assist at city food pantry

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — St. Elizabeth Manor employee Victoria Woolard thought it might be fun for members of the staff to help out at the Good Neighbors Food Pantry in East Providence, something the group did recently to great satisfaction.

Good Neighbors is located in St. Brendan’s Church hall in the basement of the school. Ms. Woolard coordinates activities at the St. Elizabeth Manor nursing and rehabilitation center located in Bristol.

The staff assisted under the banner, “Spreading the Love,” at the Good Neighbors’s weekly luncheon and fresh food initiative.

“St. Elizabeth Manor staff and their residents often volunteer to help out. Last fall they made sandwiches for the homeless. They love giving back to the community,” Ms. Woolard said. “That’s how I found out about the food pantry.”

Ms. Woolard thought that St. Elizabeth’s could be doing more. She found out that companies can come down in small groups to volunteer to help cook a meal.

“It’s a great way to get the employees involved, get them to bond and give back to the community,” Ms. Woolard said. As she peeled and cut apples to make apple turnovers in the St. Brendan’s hall kitchen.

Ms. Woolard and seven other St. Elizabeth Manor employees were on hand to cook a meal and work the twice monthly indoor farmer’s market at the Good Neighbors’ hub.

“It’s really nice to have new faces join our regular group of volunteers,” said Ann Wiard, executive director at Good Neighbors Soup Kitchen. “Having a group like this come down reenergizes everyone and we all have a really good time.”

“It’s also really helpful, because we get to make extra stuff. This week we got to make apple turnovers, a treat that we normally don’t get to do. And we get to elaborate on the meal and make extra specialties,” Ms. Wiard said.

The menu that recent day was a pork, sweet potato and black bean burrito, with Spanish rice and green beans, plus apple turnovers for dessert.

“We like to use those fresh veggies and stick them in,” said Ms. Wiard.

“Everyone thinks about homeless shelters during the holidays and tend to forget about them after,” Ms. Woolard said. We are trying to get the staff involved in more giving back type programs.”

Through a grant from Episcopal Charities and other organizations, Good Neighbors began a program called Project Fresh, an effort that makes fresh produce available to low-income, nutritionally-at-risk participants by using local produce, said Good Neighbors board member Ginny McQueen.

Good Neighbors offers a wide variety of produce in a farmer’s market-style layout, twice monthly on Wednesdays. The produce comes from the Rhode Island Food Bank and local grocery stores. Good Neighbors also has a food pantry that is open every Wednesday.

“It feels great to be here,” said St. Elizabeth Manor employee Kim Cairo of Tiverton. “It’s very heart warming, to be able to help out and give back.”

Ms. Cairo and other St. Elizabeth Manor employees and volunteers helped run the farmer’s market as lunch was being served to families through the soup kitchen.

“We have been serving fresh produce to food pantry clients,” Ms. Cairo said. “They come through with a certain number for the family and we give them the right amount of produce based on that number.”

Each farmer’s market is different depending what fruits and vegetables are available from the food bank, said Ms. McQueen.

“This week the food bank had carrots, beets, potatoes and apples available. We also purchased other items from local grocery stores,” Ms. McQueen said.

Good Neighbors also offers recipes that the clients can make at home with the produce provided.

“We make sure that they have all of the ingredients so they can do the complete recipe,” Ms. McQueen said. “The folks can come here, choose their bag with the recipe and extra produce and then go back to the food pantry for can goods,” said Ms. McQueen.

Clients go home with enough produce for the month.

“They can make this recipe. And with the additional produce, they can do whatever they want to with it.”

The staff also provides cooking assistance.

“We help them,” said Ms. McQueen. “Like with these beautiful striped beets, we explain to them, cook it like you would a potato. Peel them, chop them up into quarters, roast them and their delicious. Or slice them thin and put them on a salad. Encouraging them to use the produce in a nutritious way.”

The food pantry has 50 families coming through every week. But the families are aloud to pick up produce just once a month, said Ms. McQueen.

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