Welcome
Irondequoit Community Cupboard, Inc.
The Irondequoit Community Cupboard, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization designed to meet a variety of needs for families and individuals in the Town of Irondequoit, NY.
Mission Statement
"To serve residents who live within the Town of Irondequoit who are in need of assistance without bias or prejudice."
Vision
"To raise awareness of the presence and impact of hunger and poverty in our
community. We envision a community where all people share resources to ensure
that residents’ basic needs are met in times of limited resources.
We advocate for and reach out to those in need and try to influence public
policy so that every person in our community has the necessary support and
resources to enhance nutrition, health and welfare.”
If you are in need of
assistance, please call (585) 336-9107.
(no appointments are made online)
"Letter from the President"
(Summer 2014)
Dear Friends,
I hope that you are enjoying the wonderful weather we are finally
having. I know this is a very busy time of year for everyone; sports
for kids, graduations, weddings, picnics and vacations so I truly
appreciate all that you are doing to “Help us Help others” who live
in Irondequoit. We ended another year of our weekend backpack
program with high praises from everyone who returned our surveys. It
was enlightening to see how many of the children share their items
with a sibling, how many of the kids cannot wait to get home to see
what goodies we have packed for them, and even to read about those
who might not receive 3 meals a day on weekends if it weren’t for
our program. Thank you to all of you who make this program a
reality. Besides all of you who donate items directly used for
backpacks, we have a great crew of people who drop off and pick up
our backpacks every week during the school year. I was on vacation
for the last week and I didn’t get to thank these volunteers
personally so thank you SOOOO much to Sarah and her two children
Simeon and Tabitha, Warren, Carolyn, Dick, Shirley, Nancy, Karen and
Doris. We also had subs Deb and Jay, thank you thank you thank you.
Summer is here and for many it is a fun time filled with sunshine
and laughter but for others it is a time of food insecurity. Food
insecurity means not knowing where the next meal is coming from. In
the "United States, more than one out of five children lives in a
household with food insecurity. According to the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2012, 15.9 million children
under 18 in the United States live in this condition."
Recently, a new study showed that "1 in 3 households in Rochester is
living in poverty" and we at ICC see this every day. Although we are
not considered the city of Rochester, we are the inner ring suburb
that borders it.
Summer for some of our residents bring new issues for our families
to deal with. Many families who were receiving free breakfast or
lunch or even reduced breakfast and lunch, now will need to provide
all of these meals for their household. Did you know that food
stamps do not go up in the summer months?
We are fortunate that in Irondequoit, for the second summer, East
Irondequoit schools will be providing a summer meal program to ANY
CHILD under the age of 18.
You do NOT need to belong to the EISD!
The program begins Monday July 7th and goes through August 15th.
Breakfast is 8am to 1030am and lunch is 11am to 1pm. (the middle
school will have breakfast from 715 to 1030am)
The schools participating are Helendale, Durand, East Irondequoit
Middle and Ivan Green.
No income requirement and no registration is required.
Again, ANY child under the age of 18 can go.
Please share this information with friends and family. Many people
are struggling to provide all of their family meals; it could be
your best friend, your neighbor or a family member so again, please
share this information.
If you are thinking of planting a garden for this summer, please
consider planting a row for ICC or even an extra plant; it is a real
treat for our clients to be able to choose fresh produce for their
households. As you know, I am a hunger advocate and I recently
recorded how much money I spent, on just my husband and myself,
purchasing produce last month. I didn’t purchase anything
extravagant, I went to the public market a couple of times (but
honestly didn’t save a ton of money there for 2 people) On average,
I spent about $45 a week on produce for just the two of us. I eat
roasted or steamed vegetables as my main meal roughly 3 nights a
week but I was still astonished at how much of my grocery bill was
spent on produce. 3 peaches $3.29, 4 apples 2.94, bagged spring
lettuce 2.50, 2 red onions 3.29, 3 yams, 2.99, bag of brussel
sprouts 4.99, bag of broccoli, 4.99, 2 green peppers 1.98, 1 head of
cauliflower 3.99, bag of red seedless grapes 5.39, 4 bananas 1.98,
strawberries 2.99 for a total $41.32 again, for just myself and my
husband. So please, offer to help out at the Irondequoit Vineyard
Community Garden, plant a row of fresh vegetables for us or even
consider bringing in some of your surplus, it would be greatly
appreciated. J
If you are heading to the Irondequoit Public Market, stop by and say
help to Penny and MaryKay who volunteer their Thursday evenings to
raise awareness of hunger within our community.
Volunteer Opportunities
If you have been considering volunteering, we will begin booking for
September through December shortly. Since our numbers have grown, we
now need more volunteers on hand each time we are open for
distribution. Our need is greatest on Saturday mornings but we do
need people for Tuesday mornings as well. The hours are 915am to
11am and you should be able to lift or carry roughly 20 pounds.
If you would like to volunteer with younger children (those under
16) the Vineyard is looking for volunteers for our community garden.
If you are interested in this, please let me know and I will put you
in touch with the Pastor there.
If you are interested in coordinating a drive for us, please contact
me and I can help give you ideas and suggestions.
Before getting rid of winter coats in your garage sale, please
consider donating them to ICC for a tax write off instead. We are
always in need of gently used coats of ALL sizes.
Information and Contact Us
For events and photos of ICC happenings, Check out our facebook
page,
(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Irondequoit-Community-Cupboard-Inc/180196068672489)
our website (www.irondequoitcommunitycupboard.org ) or
contact me at info@irondequoitcommunitycupboard.org if you have any
questions about ICC. If you would like someone to speak at an event,
please ask, we love to speak with groups and organizations about
ICC, poverty, food insecurity, etc.
Highlight(s) of the Month
I had a few highlights this month:
1) I was honored to be interviewed by students at Durand Eastman
School regarding poverty.
2) 2 delightful young girls representing St Kateri school brought in
a large donation and their enthusiasm was infectious
3) tallying up our poundage for the month of May; 8,380 pounds of
food! (over 4 tons)
4) seeing the Durand Eastman school kids do their annual trek to
Seabreeze on the last day of school and stopping by bringing us
donations. Literally EVERY child brings something for us at ICC and
it is an amazing sight to see.
5) Meeting several of the girls of the Irondequoit Service Club who
brought in almost 700 pounds of food; what a great group of kids.
Last but not least, keep an eye out for our annual newsletter, this
should be in the mail by mid July. It is a little late this year due
to my surgery.
Enjoy these beautiful days that we are having and have a wonderful
and safe 4th of July.
Peace,
Debbie Evans, President
Sue Reynolds, Vice-President
John Kane, Treasurer
Diane McHale Mix, Secretary
Cherie Evans, Board Member
Rev. Sarah Culp, Board Member
MaryJo Toepfer, Board Member
Anne Johnson, Board Member
John Cortinas, Board Member