Jefferson County held food drive aiming to support local pantries Saturday
WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Another day of donations rolling in to Jefferson County Social Services Saturday, with a team of volunteers on hand jumping in to sort through it.
“To see the community pull together like this,” said Jefferson County Social Services Commissioner Karen Marcum, “it’s incredible.”
Marcum tells us county wide food drives like this aren’t a normal occurrence, but these aren’t normal times. The government shutdown drove up food insecurity. Although it’s over now, folks’ wallets are still feeling it.
“Because of everything that has happened in the past couple of months, people are just really concerned,” said Marcum. “There have been long food lines and the local pantries, and many of the pantries have just needed the support.”
Social services divvied up donations based on what each pantry asked for, sorting them into cubicles labeled with names you might know like the Salvation Army, St. Mary’s. and Grace Community Church.
Many of the folks volunteering work for social services during the week, but they were donating their time Saturday. One told us she’s seen more people than usual asking for help recently.
“I think what I have seen at least in my day to day is that it’s universal and not something specific to any income level or background,” said Kate Albrecht Fidler.
Even some volunteers have been personally impacted by the shutdown. Shannon Messier volunteered alongside her son, John. Her husband, John’s father, is a federal worker.
“There’s people out there that haven’t been paid in a month,” said Shannon Messier. “My husband hasn’t been paid in a month. It affects people that work here, people that don’t work here. It effects everybody in the community.”
“I like helping out the community and my mom thought it might be a good idea to do it,” said John Messier. “Helping out and doing community service helps a lot.”
Jefferson County has a total of 19 food pantries. 17 of them asked for support leading up to this food drive.
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