Pop-Up Pantry Distributes Food to 40 Families in Somerville

The Jefferson Area Community Food Pantry traveled north to host a pop-up pantry at South Somerville Baptist Church on Thursday, April 16.

“This is the first-ever pop-up pantry in Somerville,” Jefferson Area Community Food Pantry volunteer Aaron Greene-Morse said.

Local volunteers and members of the Somerville Fire Department distributed food.

“We prepared 70 bags for Somerville residents to take home,” Greene-Morse said.

According to a post on the pantry’s Facebook page, more than 40 families received food during the event, which took place from 9-10:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the church.

The Jefferson pantry serves Somerville residents. The pop-up event was a way to ensure delivery of food to Somerville families during uncertain economic times and to inform Somerville residents about the pantry’s regular offerings, according to Greene-Morse.

The pantry’s Facebook post indicated that the more than 40 families who received food included 30 families the pantry had not provided assistance to before.

The firefighters and other volunteers delivered food to residents in need who could not attend the event. Residents who could not attend could contact the town office to request delivery.

Greene-Morse said that in order to ensure physical distancing, residents remained in their vehicles and volunteers brought food to them.

In addition to the pantry, church, fire department, and town office, contributors to the pop-up event included Good Shepherd Food Bank, Main Street Grocery, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, One Less Worry, Rising Tide Co-op, Salty Boyz Food Truck, and Twin Villages Foodbank Farm.

The Jefferson Area Community Food Pantry is open at its usual location, St. Giles’ Episcopal Church in Jefferson, from 4-5:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month.