SPRINGFIELD-A telecom company based in Springfield has donated $5,000 among 10 rural food pantries in Vermont this month, including three that serve Windham County residents.
“Supporting local food pantries has long been important to us,” said Andrea Spaans, marketing manager and wireless supervisor at the Vermont Telephone Company and VTel Wireless, via email. “This December, we wanted to do more and make sure our support reached as many local pantries as possible.”
The small, family-owned company operating since 1890, provides internet, phone and television services across 14 rural villages in Vermont, according to its website. While it has contributed to local food pantries since the 2010s, it increased its seasonal donation this year to spread the joy across some of the communities it serves, Spaans said.
The Grafton Community Church, which runs a local food pantry, is a first-time recipient.
“VTel’s effort is amazing. So unexpected,” Mary Howard Hall, outreach coordinator who received a $500 check earlier this month, said in an email. “Their donation will go toward feeding our neighbors.”
Christmas is a busy time for the church and food pantry, which is open 8:30 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sunday. Additional hours are available if needed.
“Some people have keys to let themselves in to get food when we are closed,” she said. “Isn’t that wonderful? We have never turned anyone away.”
When the Grafton Inn across the street closed its kitchen at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020, they called the church.
“I took all their food, which was a lot, and it disappeared in two hours,” Hall said.
That’s how the pantry at the chapel began, and they have kept it going since. It now offers shelf-stable foods, sometimes eggs, cheese and meats, and produce from the Vermont Foodbank, which they partner with.
Separate from the church budget, the pantry runs on donations of both food and money and costs about $10,000 to $13,000 per year, according to Hall. The town of Grafton donates $1,000 each year, and they apply for grants. With rising prices, it’s a lot for a small rural church – but also a priority.
“Each year, of course, we spend more money, as prices continue to rise,” she said. So they were happy to receive an unexpected check.
They work with local farmers and growers, as well as with Grafton Cares, a community effort that provides two lunches and two dinners a month at the chapel building at 4 Main St. They also offer rides to medical appointments and help coordinate Meals on Wheels deliveries, Hall said.
Other local recipients included the Chester-Andover Family Center, Our Place Community Food Center in Bellows Falls, and the Springfield Family Center.
“Local food pantries are often volunteer-led and deeply rooted in the communities we serve,” Spaans said in an email. “Supporting them is a tangible way for us to back the people and organizations doing that day-to-day work and help ensure they have the resources they need.”
This story was republished with permission from VTDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To support this work, please visit vtdigger.org/donate.
This News item by Auditi Guha originally appeared in VTDigger and was republished in The Commons with permission.