BERLIN, Md. - A free healthy food pantry is open, beginning Nov. 4, behind the Worcester Youth and Family Center. The pantry is accessible to the public at all hours of the day.
The center was awarded a mini-grant through The Worcester County Health Department and BlueCross BlueShield to fill the pantry, as well as donations from Randy's Crew, Food Lion, and the community. The pantry itself was built by carpentry students at Worcester Technical High School and is filled with shelf-stable canned goods, high protein snacks, baby food, and even seasonings.
"This is the kind of thing that you dream about doing so that, you know, that you can actually serve everyone, not just the people that can show up at a certain time," said Rachel Mitchell, Worcester Youth and Family's Program Coordinator. "But money is always a major factor for that. We were doing a lot of it with our general clients, but now we get to serve the whole community and we're really excited about that."
Mitchell says having the pantry outdoors allows the public to access it at anytime during the day and she says the center plans to refill it when it is needed.
"We realize that maybe a Wednesday midday is not always accessible for everyone. We have mothers working multiple shifts. We have community members that can't necessarily get out until a friend or a family member gets off of work to drive them," said Mitchell. "So with that, we've kind of had to improvise. And that's where these little free pantries have come into play."
Mitchell says to donate to the healthy food pantry, call the Worcester Youth and Family Center at (410) 641-4598 or email them at shine@gowoyo.org.