Thank you for your compelling story about the Falmouth Food Pantry, which serves 268 families (a 60 percent increase in just the past year), at a time when corporate food donations are declining. The other part of the story is how Falmouth’s residents and many local businesses have “stepped up to the plate” to support the pantry’s work, through labor, food, and cash donations.

None of the pantry’s volunteers, including those who work 40 hours a week, are paid. And each year, for the past three years, Falmouth’s six churches and the Jewish community have collaborated to put on a free Community Supper for Falmouth’s residents, in support of the community’s free-will giving to the pantry. Indeed, the pantry has come to rely on these donations to cover nearly all its annual budget. This year the Community Supper is on Thursday, Oct. 20, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Falmouth Congregational Church, UCC, on Falmouth Road.

Neighbors sit down with neighbors to enjoy roast turkey, local squash, potatoes, and apple crisp and ice cream, made and served by dozens of residents of our faith community, with decorations and other help (and cash donations) from everyone – from Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, high school students, pantry clients, and Oceanview residents, to town councilors and employees, and local business owners. I am personally very proud to be part of a community of residents who extend their hands so generously to help their neighbors in need.

Peggy McGehee
Falmouth