The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

Weeb’s Warehouse Was Packed With People Packing The HACA Food Pantry’s Thanksgiving Baskets. Volunteers From All Parts Of The Community Joined the Effort

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by Deb Alter 

Thanks to many, many people in the Hoosick community, the annual Hoosick Area Church Association (HACA) Food Pantry’s Holiday Basket project was a  tremendous success. [private]

Colin and Faye MacDonald move along the holiday box assembly line. Dad Joe follows right behind. Photo by Deb Alter
Colin and Faye MacDonald move along the holiday box assembly line. Dad Joe follows right behind. Photo by Deb Alter

There are a lot of moving parts to this project; it had to be carefully organized and needed many volunteers to make it happen. Months ago, HACA Director Dianne Hosterman began the process.

Pantry clients began signing up back in October. HACA also received referrals from the schools, churches, and community leaders. Elva Cipperly created a spreadsheet that kept the process organized and accurate. Based on the number of requests, Hosterman started ordering and storing the necessary food and supplies from the Regional Food Bank. Hosterman went out and shopped for what she couldn’t get through the Food Bank.

As part of a national campaign, the local Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts ran a village-wide  food drive and delivered the food they had collected the previous week.

Hoosick Falls Cub Scout Pack 64, along with Boy Scout Packs 63 & 65 participated in Scouting For Food, a national scout initiative on November 17. The Scouts gathered at the Baptist Church with leaders and parents, then spread out across the Village to collect the food that people left in the designated bags they had distributed the previous week. They then delivered it to the HACA food closet on John Street. Photo courtesy of Davia Plusch
Hoosick Falls Cub Scout Pack 64, along with Boy Scout Packs 63 & 65 participated in Scouting For Food, a national scout initiative on November 17. The Scouts gathered at the Baptist Church with leaders and parents, then spread out across the Village to collect the food that people left in the designated bags they had distributed the previous week. They then delivered it to the HACA food closet on John Street. Photo courtesy of Davia Plusch

At the same time, Hoosac School was running a food drive on their campus to help out. Pam Kopala, who brought the students to the Pantry to deliver the food said they would like to do more food drives.

Hoosac School students donated over 25 bags of groceries to the HACA Annual Holiday Fund Drive in Hoosick Falls. The food bank drive at Hoosac was also run by the students. Unique McLean and Shadayshia Walton helped deliver the items on Wednesday, November 18 to the Food Closet. Photo courtesy of Pam Kopala
Hoosac School students donated over 25 bags of groceries to the HACA Annual Holiday Fund Drive in Hoosick Falls. The food bank drive at Hoosac was also run by the students. Unique McLean and Shadayshia Walton helped deliver the items on Wednesday, November 18 to the Food Closet. Photo courtesy of Pam Kopala

Saint Gobain donated a sizable amount of money, and many of their employees donated turkeys and cash.

Back in October, the entire community contributed to the “Fill the Bus” campaign, organized by HACA President Joyce Brewer who couldn’t have done it without the help of HFCS Transportation Supervisor Joe Steller.

Working behind the scenes, long-time regular pantry volunteers Dick Frye and Rick Ferrannini, who owns Weeb’s, got the warehouse space ready for food basket assembly. Turkeys delivered from Saint Gobain went into the big storage freezers, and boxes of canned goods and other food items were set out on the tables borrowed from First United Presbyterian Church in a way that made it easy to fill the boxes as the volunteers went around the “assembly line.”

Iva Durkee, who has been a regular Food Pantry volunteer for many, many years places cans of goodies in a box for a family of four. Photo by Deb Alter
Iva Durkee, who has been a regular Food Pantry volunteer for many, many years places cans of goodies in a box for a family of four. Photo by Deb Alter

On Thursday, November 19 at about 6 pm, many people, well over 50, came to the Weeb’s warehouse to help pack 220 boxes of food for 200 families for the Thanksgiving holiday. There were elementary-school-age kids, teenagers, adults and senior citizens at the warehouse, working together to pack the boxes. The stronger volunteers helped to stack the filled boxes. Many hands make light work: the boxes were all packed and ready to go by about 7:30.

On Friday the Hoosick Falls Lions, organized by Bridget Pierce, delivered 21 boxes to home bound seniors in addition to the regular monthly delivery they had done just the week before and do each month all year.

On Saturday morning, the families came to Weeb’s to pick up their boxes, thankful to all for helping them have a happy Thanksgiving. Some of the early arriving families who came to pick up their boxes pitched in and helped get the turkeys and pies out of the freezer. Several women from the Rescue Squad came to do home deliveries for those who were unable to pick up. Cipperly made three deliveries on her way home after everything else was done for the day.

The Becker family, Christine, Zekiel and Zoey (l to r) work in sync on the food basket “assembly line,” filling the HACA Thanksgiving boxes. Many families and individuals came out to help this excellent cause.
The Becker family, Christine, Zekiel and Zoey (l to r) work in sync on the food basket “assembly line,” filling the HACA Thanksgiving boxes. Many families and individuals came out to help this excellent cause.

When that was done, packing boxes were broken down for recycling, the warehouse was cleaned up, and the tables were returned to FUPC. And as if he hadn’t done enough already, Ferrannini bought pizza for everyone who was still there.

David Cornell came and picked up all the broken down cardboard for recycling, something he does year-round each week at the Pantry.

Throughout the process, with a single mission to accomplish, age differences and walks of life seemed to disappear.

Asked how she felt about how giving people had been, whether with time, money, or food, Hosterman said, “I am honored to be a part of this community. I have never seen so many wonderful, generous, caring people who consistently put others before themselves.”

Hosterman shared a particularly poignant story: A family of five who had just moved to Hoosick Falls called to ask if there was anything we could do to help them. One family member was in the hospital and their shelves were bare. The volunteers sprung into action and a box was prepared for them with additional help promised during the upcoming days. The volunteer who delivered the box on Saturday received a big hug from a grateful mom.

The Annual Holiday Fund Drive is still going on. Use the handy coupon on the mailer you received (or pick one up at Thorpe’s, the Town Office, or other locations), or mail a check made out to HACA Annual Fund Drive, and mail it to HACA, PO Box 1, Hoosick Falls, NY 12090. Every donation counts.[/private]