The Dedham Food Pantry cordially invites all volunteers, past, present and future, to join us at the Dedham Community House on September 15th at 7 pm for
the Dedham Food Pantry Volunteer Appreciation Night.

We are extremely grateful for all the time, resources, and support that you
have provided. Your donations, weekly volunteering, and your tremendous
assistance with the move to our new location are truly valued and
appreciated. The Food Pantry is able to assist the families of Dedham
because of your generous assistance.

Now it is time for us to give back to you! We will be serving food and
refreshments and will highlight the main events of the past year and will
give special thanks to you-to the individuals and groups that help the
Dedham Food Pantry thrive.

Please feel free to bring guests and to bring any suggestions for
improvement.  Our motto is Neighbors Helping Neighbors and we are honored
to thank the best Neighbors anyone could ask for!

The Dedham Community House is located at 70 Bullard Street (the corner of
Bullard Street and High Street) in Dedham Square.
http://www.dedhamcommunityhouse.org/

Please RSVP (either way) to Cindy Barich at 781-329-0555 or via email cindyb@uwinc.com.

If you’re bringing guests please let us know the number of people in your
group. If you’re unable to attend, but would like to receive emails about
upcoming events, please let us know and we will happily add you to our
email list!

Dedham, MA, (August 25, 2010) – The Grainger Foundation, Lake Forest, Illinois, has donated $5,000 to The Dedham Food Pantry in support of its mission to help end hunger within the community in which it serves.

“This donation helps us extend our mission of providing food to the hungry in Dedham,” said Lindsay Barich, Vice President, Dedham Food Pantry. “Our organization serves more than 200 local families. We are grateful to The Grainger Foundation for its generosity.”

This donation was recommended by Paul McManus, Branch Manager of W.W. Grainger, Inc.’s Norwood location. Grainger has been a part of the Norwood – Dedham business community for more than 30 years as the leading broad line supplier of maintenance, repair, and operating products. “We are proud to recommend the programs offered by The Dedham Food Pantry,” said McManus. “We understand the importance of partnering with organizations such as Dedham Food Pantry to help curb hunger in our area.”

The Grainger Foundation, established in 1949 by William Wallace Grainger, founder of W.W. Grainger, Inc., has provided substantive support to a broad range of organizations including museums and educational, medical, and human services institutions.

For further information about The Dedham Food Pantry contact:

Lynn Rogal, President 781-320-9442, phone, or Lindsay Barich, Vice President, cell# 781-706-0537

Save money with what you eat:

• Avoid Restaurants – eating at a restaurant can be an “on occasion treat”. Usually the choices are not the healthiest, the portions are out of control and it can be pretty pricey. Cooking at home can save you a lot of money, and you have more control over the ingredients you are feeding your body.

• Always make a grocery list and stick to it. The grocery list should be based on the planned meals you will have during the week – sit down and think about meals you would like to prepare of the week. Make sure your grocery list includes all of the ingredients you need to make all these foods. Factor in healthy snacks and things to pack in lunches for work or school. Take a look in your pantry or fridge before you make your list, you may have more ingredients than you think you do.

• Be willing to travel to the store with the lowest prices – When you get the store flyers on Friday afternoons, don’t throw them away, save them so that you can review them when time allows. If you are sitting with a cup of coffee look over the competing supermarkets and see which one offers you the best prices on foods you were planning to buy. 

• Don’t shop when you are hungry, you will be more likely to buy things that you really don’t need or want.

• Set a grocery budget – Take a look at your weekly finances and ask your self how much you can afford to spend on food. Once you set a price, stick to it!

• Eat food that is economical but also nutritionally sound. Some examples are beans, grains, fruits and vegetables that are in season and on sale.

• Use coupons! Although this can be time consuming, clipping coupons can result in significant savings. 

Fix up regular old fashion recipes by adding new ingredients.  Pancake mix fix up – Using regular ‘just add water’ pancake mix, adding these simple ingredients can make them more exciting, still keeping to your budget of course.

Blueberries
Strawberries
Bananas
Pineapple tidbits
Granola
Nuts
Chocolate chips
Shredded coconut
Dried fruit (raisins, cranberries)
Cinnamon
Vanilla extract
My Pantry – What you should always have on hand to save money in the long run. If you start out by doing one really big shopping trip and fill your pantry with these essentials, you will always have food/meals on hand and will save money in the long run.

You can use home cooked dried beans instead of canned beans in any recipe. They can stay in the refrigerator in an air tight container for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Bean and Tortilla Soup – this super cheap recipes cooks in about 30 minutes. Its authentic Mexican flavors will be a great surprise for a week night.

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup red beans, already cooked (defrosted if frozen)
1 cup black beans, already cooked (defrosted if frozen)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
¾ cup frozen corn kernels
2 tsp taco seasoning
1 can vegetable or chicken broth
1/3 cup Mexican blend cheese
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
Fresh lime
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and allow cooking until tender. Add the red and black beans, the tomatoes with their juice, garlic and corn. Add the taco seasoning and stir to blend. Add the broth and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with topping of crushed chips, squeeze of lime, 1 tablespoon cilantro and cheese.
Lentils and Rice – When you have the lentils on hand and already cooked, the recipe take about 15 minutes to prepare. A healthy, low fat and satisfying meal for a busy weeknight.

1 ½ cups long-grain rice
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion
1 large green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans or stewed tomatoes
1 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
3 cups lentils, already cooked (defrosted if frozen)
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add the rice, stir, and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan and simmer until rice is cooked, about 20 minutes.

In a skillet over medium heat, heat 2 tsp of oil. Add the onion and bell pepper stirring occasionally until tender. Add garlic, tomatoes and their juice, and the Italian seasoning in the skillet. When hot, add the lentils and the remaining 2 tsp on oil. Cook until lentils are heated through. Season with salt and black pepper and serve over the hot rice.

What to do with leftover white rice:

All proceeds are will be donated to the Dedham Food Pantry.  The suggested donation is $10.00.

Please RSVP by May 24th to Chris Lyons Communications at lyonspr@rcn.com

We hope to see you there…

Dedham Food Pantry Benefit at Saqra Grand Opening May 25th 7 to 9pm

MAY 2010

 The Dedham Girl Scout Troop# 74589 recently donated 20 cases of Girl Scout Cookies to the Dedham Food Pantry.  We are very grateful to troop leaders Beth Lewman and Jodi Shair for organizing and donating the cookies!.  Pictured here are several members of the troop - Jacque, Samantha, Sidney, Karen, Olivia, and Alyssa – carrying in the cookies. On behalf of the DFP clients, THANK YOU!

Kings Lanes recently sponsored a night to honor 5 of the Dedham area non profit organizations by donating $2000 to each group.

The non profit organizations where the: Dedham Food Pantry, Dedham Square Cirlcle, Dedham Youth Little League, Mother Brook Neighborhood Alliance, and Dedham Community House.

The Dedham Food Pantry is very greatfull for this donation that will be used to purchase food for the many families in need.

This is another great example of “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” in the town of Dedham!

Lynn Rogal, President is seen here is Joshua Rossmeisl, G.Mgr. of Kings and Frank Stryjewski, COO of Kings

Come into the Uno’s on Providence Highway on Friday, May 21st with a Dough Rai$er Donation Ticket and 20% of all receipts received will go towards the Dedham Food Pantry.

Dough Rai$er  tickets will be  e-mailed out this week to all members on the Dedham Food Pantry contact list.  Please use them for yourself and your family or give them to friends!

Can’t wait to see you there!  If you have any questions, please email me.  Thanks,

Paula Goodrich

paulamgoodrich@hotmail.com

Once a month in our Westwood office, we have what we refer to as a Charitable Casual Friday.  For the privilege of dressing casual, you must donate $1.00 to charity.  Every month a different charity is chosen.  The charity chosen for the month of December 2009 was the Dedham Food Pantry.

 We hope this donation will help to provide some needed staples for the pantry.  The services that you provide for the community is so important, especially during these difficult financial times.  We thank you for all that you do and look forward to our continued partnership with the Dedham Food Pantry.

Andrea J. O’Rourke

The above link is a great website to down load coupons which Dedham resident and pantry volunteer Lynn Mahoney created for viewers to receive daily “coupon deals” and has over 15,000 hits a day!  She is local mom who purchases numerous items such as cereal, ketchup and mayonnaise to name a few through coupon rebates for “free” and donates them to the pantry. This is also a great resource for anyone looking to check on which stores have weekly specials to “stock up” on certain items and save money.

Lynn recently explained how the coupon process works at the Dedham Food Pantry’s monthly meeting and she personally saves hundreds of dollars each month on her grocery shopping!

The pantry is looking to compile a coupon bin for all clients to utilize so please “Do Not” throw out your coupon flyers each week and drop them off at the food pantry.

Donations are still coming in from the original broadcast and the repeat airings are still making an impact on viewers watching and wanting to contribute to the food pantry!
The Dedham Food Pantry would like to thank all the volunteers, businesses, performers, donors, and the people that participated in the 2nd Annual “Holiday Harvest Telethon”!
A special “Thank You” goes out to Dedham Public TV that produced, directed, and sponsored the broadcast again this year.

Donations are still coming in from the original broadcast and the repeat airings are still making an impact on viewers watching and wanting to contribute to the food pantry!

The wish list wasn’t fancy, but it was specific, as trustees of the Dedham Food Pantry searched for a new home in recent months after the crushing news that the church basement where they had helped their neighbors for 20-plus years would no longer be available after this fall. A new space had to be at least 1,200 square feet to accommodate the current operation that feeds between 30 and 50 families – and climbing –every week. It had to be accessible to public transportation and couldn’t have stairs, because some clients can’t climb them. The tallest order of all – in this economy – was that the space had to be free.

This month, the wishes were granted.  Federal Realty Investment Trust, which owns the Dedham Plaza, agreed to donate the use of a former hardware store on that Route 1 property. The 1,500-square-foot storefront is big enough to allow for a separation of space so that, for the first  time, people waiting in line to fill two shopping bags with food don’t have to stand outside, often in the rain, as they did before “Our clients are eager to know the details of when we are going to move,’’ said Janine Murphy, a trustee of the pantry. “And this helps our missions for the elderly and disabled.’’   Murphy said pantry workers are “feverishly’’ readying the space so it might open as soon as mid-January, she said.

The Dedham Food Pantry is an all-volunteer, grass-roots organization that relies completely on donations. Trustees and directors spend $4,000 a month on food for thousands of residents. For over two decades, the supplies have been distributed from a basement room under St. John’s United Methodist Church.  The imposing stone building in Oakdale Square shut its doors recently after the small congregation could no longer afford to pay for repairs and $10,000 heating bills. Services were moved out of the 100-plus-year-old church to a school building across the yard, and the pantry will be warmed with space heaters until it moves to its new home, trustees said.  In past months, the pantry had sought help from the town, school district, and other churches in the area as it searched for space, but nothing was a good fit. Then, state Representative Paul McMurtry, a Dedham Democrat, reached out to Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment Trust.   “We were delighted to help the Dedham Food Pantry find a home this holiday season,’’ said Don Briggs, president of Federal Realty Boston. “When [McMurtry] inquired if Federal Realty had space available, we found the organization a location in Dedham Plaza to continue their mission of serving the local community.’’   Families in nee are directed to the pantry by agencies such as the Dedham Youth Commission.

üThe pantry gets $8 worth of food for every dollar donated. üThe event was broadcast live from Dedham Public Television, and even featured some step dancers from te O’Dwyer School in Hyde Park. üDon’t forget the Dedham Food Pantry, or your local food pantry, when you go to make a donation this holiday season.

Dedham Transcript

Posted Nov 25, 2009 @ 01:11 PM

DEDHAM —  Thanksgiving means family to some people, and football to others. For the Dedham Food Pantry, the November holiday is a prime time to fulfill its mission.

The pantry distributed 131 Thanksgiving meals at its annual “Turkey Day” event over the weekend, giving out turkeys and assorted fixings such as potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing and gravy.

 The food will go a long way for one Dedham mother, who said she would be able to use her 10-pound turkey for leftovers like sandwiches and soup.

 “I’m a single mom, and things don’t always meet every week when payday comes, and what have you,” said Lori, who has been going to the pantry regularly for the last three years to pick up food for her daughter and herself. “I think it is a big help to everyone who goes there, even though everybody does have to swallow their pride, with the way the economy’s going and everything.”

 “For this Thanksgiving, I couldn’t be more thankful for getting what I’m getting,” said Steve, a Dedham resident who picked up a turkey and goodies such as carrots and sweet potatoes for his family of three. Saturday’s birds were donated by Roche Bros.

The following twenty-seven Dedham businesses participated:  Blue Bunny, Cathay Kitchen, Cafe Fresh Bagel, C.V.S.-Dedham Square, C.V.S.-East Dedham, Century Antiques, Courtyard Florist, Dedham Community Theater, Dedham Flower Shoppe, Dedham Women’s’ Exchange, District One Convenience, East Dedham Nail & Spa, Fifties’ Diner, High Street Cafe, It’s All Greek To Me Restaurant, Java Coffee Shop, Malibu, Mimi’s II, Nest, Newbury Yarn, Oakdale Pizza and Coffee Shop, P-K Nail Salon, Pizzadoro, Salon 561, Sergi Barber Shop, Tedeschi Convenience and Wardle’s Pharmacy.

Each donation can had a sticker affixed to the bottom which contained the name and telephone number of the Dedham Food Pantry contact for the convenience of the business owner.  As each can was retrieved at the end of the holiday donation drive, in the presence of an employee at each location, a sticker was affixed to the can’s donation slot with the

businesses’ name on it and it was delivered to the Dedham Food Pantry’s volunteer Treasurer to be counted and deposited.   A the Women’s Exchange, a nonprofit business, there was a customer who, unknown to them, became a Dedham Food Pantry donor by destiny.  One of the volunteer sales assistants found a five-dollar bill on the floor and when she discussed with her volunteer coworkers what they should do with it, they decided to put it into the Dedham Food Pantry donation can.

The five-year old grandson of the Dedham Food Pantry contact who distributed and collected the donation cans received his first community service experience as he carefully affixed the labels to each slot on the donation cans.  He was pleased to go to twenty-two business locations and learn that even he, young as he is, could make a contribution to his community by assisting in collecting money for the benefit of three-hundred financially disadvantaged families in his home town.

Both the Women’s’ Exchange and the Fifties’ Diner have requested Dedham Food Pantry donation cans be placed at their locations all year long and not just during the holiday season.

Thank you for all your support!

Ann Callahan-Spellman

Thank you to the Dedham Times, BH Printing, Donahue Real Estate, Dedham TV, Dedham Educational Partnership, and the Dedham Square Circle for assisting in advertising the event. Additional thanks to Roche Brothers Mocha Java and Papa Ginos for their contributions.   A special thanks to First Church for storing the items, allowing us to use their space,

and to the many volunteers who contributed their time/efforts for the yard sale. Enough items were donated to the yard sale to fill the church’s large meeting hall with more items spilling out on to the driveway. There was a steady stream of bargain hunters all morning and many of those people made an extra donation to the Food Pantry. The Food Pantry would like to give thanks to David Ashley of Ashley Food Inc., www.ashleyfood.com who created the special label hot sauce for the Food Pantry. Lastly, our thanks to Tom Clinton from the Youth Commission and the teenagers he brought to help. 

All of the funds raised by the Dedham Food Pantry go directly towards the purchase of food which is distributed free to the Pantry’s Dedham clientele.  This is a particularly helpful time for the Food Pantry to raise funds since all donations in the month of April are eligible for matching funds through the Feinstein Grant Program. 

The Dedham Food Pantry Board of Trustees

On July 3rd the Elizabethtown group spent the morning sorting food at the Greater Boston Food Bank in Boston.   They spent their afternoon volunteering at the Dedham Food Pantry, including loading two trucks at the Pantry’s monthly shopping trip and unloading them at the Food Pantry.  The group pitched in to stock shelves and organize the bins of food from the Postal Drive.  The timing was particularly fortunate since students from Dedham Country Day School, who usually assist with the shopping trip, are not available during the summer months.  The Food Pantry is always in appreciative of its volunteers, but it particularly appreciated the generosity and spirit that would motivate visitors from North Carolina to spend a day helping a Massachusetts Food Pantry.

Thank you to everyone that helped out today in handing out 70 turkeys and fixins to our Food Pantry clients.

Thank you to St. John’s United Methodist Church and others for donating hats, mittens, scarfs, socks, and gloves to keep our clients warm.  Some clients walked in with nothing on their hands, and tears were brought to both our eyes when we told them they could pick 1 new item. Additional thanks to St. Johns for letting us use the churches Parish Hall to hand out the items this year.  It was nice to have our most of the volunteers warm, while the turkeys were handed out outside.

Lindsay and the police who keep our volunteers warm with coffee and donuts too, thank you!