Our Hometown
Warner | Community Dignity
Clip | 7mVideo has Closed Captions
Apryl Blood and Patty Anderson discussing their roles in the community.
Apryl Blood and Patty Anderson discussing their roles at Warner Area Food Pantry and Family Closet thrift store in New Hampshire, where they work together to provide food and clothing assistance to the community, with the thrift store's proceeds helping to fund the food pantry's operations while maintaining dignity for their clients.
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Our Hometown is a local public television program presented by NHPBS
Our Hometown
Warner | Community Dignity
Clip | 7mVideo has Closed Captions
Apryl Blood and Patty Anderson discussing their roles at Warner Area Food Pantry and Family Closet thrift store in New Hampshire, where they work together to provide food and clothing assistance to the community, with the thrift store's proceeds helping to fund the food pantry's operations while maintaining dignity for their clients.
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actually, at the point where I stepped into the food pantry was I was already upstairs helping the family closet with weekly volunteering.
While the kids were at school, which was working out perfect.
And then we had a gentleman downstairs that was moving to help his family with some medical issues.
And I said, oh, yeah.
You know, I'm very skilled with spreadsheets and word.
You know, I'm, I'm, educated as an engineer.
So I was like, I got this.
I quickly realized I was going to be there for a while, and I haven't left yet.
So I went down, in May of 2023, and that's how long I've been in the food pantry.
So it's been it's fun.
It's a lot of a lot of work, but it's great for the community.
So it's always it's nice to give back and I like to give back when I can.
And this seems like a good spot.
And of course then, you know, Covid and it was all kinds of fun stuff that they had to deal with that luckily I didn't have to deal with.
So, that was one of the first things I wanted to do.
When I got there, they were still car hopping and we had a nice big tent outside, like a carport tent.
And so we'd go out with a clipboard and just write down what each client would like.
We'd go in and see if we could find it, put it in a buggy and bring it to the car.
So no one was coming in still.
And, I was really focusing myself and the board on, trying to make sure that there's no waste and eliminate all the.
So we thankfully, I had Patty there and she went and looked at, I don't numerous pantries in the area from Concord to Hillsboro to Epsom to I mean it's just,... research, research.
And she was my research because I'm like, we really need to come back in and be, in-store shopping.
You know, we'd like to reduce waste.
We want people to get what they need.
We have home deliveries.
We have to call and pack for.
So that was one of the first things I re-hauled was the home delivery system, because it was just making like a notebook.
And I said, you know, why don't we try to make a, a spreadsheet or a document and put what we have for options, and then we'll call them and we'll highlight what they like, and then we'll pack and deliver.
So that was huge.
People really appreciate just being able to say, oh no, I don't want hamburger again or whatever, whatever.
But it was that worked as well.
And then over that summer I worked on getting it inside.
So now it's basically a grocery store type model where we're, we're a free choice pantry, basically.
And if there's any limit, like on something that we just really have a hard time keeping in stock, we usually put something on the shelf and it looks like a grocery store with labels, you know, like, and so, we basically just, you know, have to put a limit on some items.
And we do really try to find something for everybody when we shop at the store.
I can add a little bit of the history there, because I've been with the food pantry.
We moved to this area up here in Warner about ten, 11 years ago, and my husband and I started volunteering for the food pantry at that time.
So we were pre all this stuff going on.
And we got to grow with it and understand the needs.
And there came a time before we actually became an organization completely.
We started the previous owner, we started talking about how are we going to serve people.
They they're coming for food.
They need food, but they also need clothing.
They also need other things to help them get by with the cost of living.
And, people were starting to donate clothes to us, so I just I had some retail background.
So I said, hey, why don't we start a thrift store then that will help fundraise as well and support the food pantry, but it also will support the people's needs that they have.
So that's what started it.
And that was in May of 2020.
So we've been operating for five years.
We feel very strongly that there's a dignity needed in this nonprofit.
And it's not just helping people that don't have something and, oh good, we're doing we're doing this for, you know, somebody's good.
Know there's a dignity involved.
So the food pantry, by moving from a car hop situation or some pantries are one box handout, whatever it may be, whatever they need to do, that's fine.
We've just felt that it needed to be a place where people could pick out their own food.
They had an opportunity to, to interact with other people during that time, to interact with the volunteers.
You get to know their stories, you get to know them as people.
And, they come for that.
Well, the thrift store has become the same thing that we take, only high quality secondhand clothes.
If there is such a thing, there is.
We only take the best we take and and, clean.
And it's just really nice.
And I have it set up like a boutique for that very same reason.
When people come in there shopping in a little store, they're not shopping in, just a thrift, you know, secondhand junk shop and, we feel that as the people come in, they have stories, they have needs.
They they, start to know you as a person.
We know them as a person.
And that's there's a dignity there.
And sometimes there's a need that is so great that they can barely even ask.
And yet we feel we just send them up and say, we'll take care of you.
And they're so appreciative.
I mean, no matter what help we, you know, we can supply.
I mean, things have obviously been a little challenging with prices and things, but we do the best we can and the people really appreciate it.
And they they tell us all the times how much, you know, they're like, oh, this is so nice and wonderful.
And we really they value the help and we value what we can help them with.
So and if we don't have something or if they need another resource, we try to direct them into the right spot because it is a whole package.
It's not just the food.
I mean, if they need food, then they need something else.
So, that's really key, I think, in having an organization food pantry to be able to say, okay, so now you go upstairs and here's your application for fuel assistance.
Or, you know, there's other things they always need to help in that bucket.
And so we do we do our little piece.
But that we hopefully we can help them find another part of that.
Which.
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