Holiday cheer with many flavors

For the second consecutive year, Judy’s Produce Pantry had a special, festive afternoon of providing produce, non-perishable food items, and some holiday treats as a way of helping some Cape families to have a merrier Christmas.

On Dec. 17, Nancy Miles and her band of volunteers filled the Sunshine Room of our church with potatoes, carrots and butternut squash from Jordan’s Farm, large bins of soups, peanut butter, pasta, juices and other non-pershiables, banana breads and cookies, and even some mulled cider prepared by Nancy Johnson.

Many of the non-perishable food products came from the Pond Cove Elementary and Cape Middle schools, thanks to a food drive of which many of the classes participated. Each grade level was assigned a specific food product for the drive: peanut butter for some, fruit for another and cereals and fruits for still others. Then the families came forward and contributed.

The Mill Creek Hannaford in South Portland also was involved, providing more than 30 “Helping Hands” boxes, each filled with pasta sauce, green beans, canned chicken breast, elbow macaroni, macaroni and cheese, long grain rice, and chicken noodle soup. The boxes were purchased by Mill Creek shoppers for $10 each and Hannaford assigned the donations to Judy’s Pantry.

Steve Simonds and Nancy Miles

A special guest who arrived just before the pantry opened to the public at 3 p.m. was Steve Simonds. The pantry is named for Judy Simonds, Steve’s late wife. Judy’s passion was always gardening and Steve said he was pleased to see how far the pantry has progressed since it began in 2010, the same year Judy passed away.

Carrots and potatoes from Jordan's Farm.

The pantry will be open again on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, and then will begin its winter/spring schedule of being open from 3-5 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month through June. The pantry will resume its weekly schedule in July.

Church members are asked to continue donating non-perishable food items as often as possible to help keep the pantry able to assist Cape families who have difficulty keeping quality food on their tables. Food donations can be left in the shopping cart in Fellowship Hall.

The task of setting up the pantry each week takes many, dedicated volunteers.