Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Weight is a key measure

When I volunteered to help the Franklin Food Pantry for the "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive in May, I learned that the weight of food in and out of the pantry is one of the key measures. All food purchased or donated to the pantry is weighed. The total weights are recorded as a measure of how much was processed.

The freshness dates, or 'use by dates' are also checked. If the date has not expired, the food is kept. If the date has expired, the food is tossed into the trash. (Yes, this still bothers me and I don't fully understand all the rules and regulations on this matter so I won't spend much more time on it here. Research is underway to help understand the hows and whys.)


The pounds in less the pounds of 'spoilage' equal the net receipts. For the Saturday in May when the Franklin Post Office delivered all the food collected in their rounds of mail delivery,  the Pantry netted 3,869.5 pounds of food. The total received was 4,746.7 of which 877.2 was out dated and tossed aside.

Compared to the one day in May, the month of November yielded over 24,000 pounds of food from a variety of sources. The summary of services provided for the month and an outline of where the Food Pantry is headed is contained in this handout provided to folks who stopped by during the Open House at last week's Holiday Stroll:

Franklin Food Pantry - November 2010 Status


If you would like to help, these are the items that the Pantry can use at this time.

  • Cleaning Products - Laundry, Dish, Disinfecting etc.
  • Paper Products - Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Napkins, Paper Towels etc.
  • Health & Beauty Care - Shampoo, Soap, Razors, Deodorant, Feminine, Hand Sanitizer etc.
  • Cereal
  • Broth
  • Beef stew
  • Potatoes (can or dry)
  • Flavored rice and/or pasta mixes
  • Canned pasta (chef boyardeeish)
  • Baking mixes
  • Spices
  • Crackers
  • Jelly
  • Canvas bags

If the food has a freshness date, please check to see that it is current before making your donation. This will save time for the volunteers as they weigh, sort and stock the shelves before the food is distributed.

You can also make a monetary donation directly through the Pantry website via Google Checkout. You don't need a Google account to use this to process your transaction securely.



Note: I am volunteering some of my time as Community Information Director for the Franklin Food Pantry.

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin MAtters to view the document

Franklin, MA

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