ANDOVER – The Andover Food Pantry will host a food sale fundraiser from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 23, with all proceeds matched by the Good Shepherd Food-Bank.

According to Linda Couture, a volunteer with the Andover Food Pantry, this is the first time they've done a fundraiser “in quite a while.”

“We recently had a grant offered to us by the Good Shepherd Food-Bank explaining that whatever we raise at the fundraiser, they'll match,” Couture said. “I guess each town is eligible for different amounts, and we have the opportunity to get $400.”

Couture said that after the fundraiser, they would deposit the money in an account, provide a copy of the funds raised to Good Shepherd, and they would subsequently add the same amount into the account.

“This way, if we want to go and buy food for the pantry, the money will come right from that account,” Couture said.

The food sale will include baked goods donated by volunteers of the food bank and the Andover Congressional Church, which is where the Andover Food Pantry is located. Couture added that the food sale will offer “takeout” items, such as baked beans and chop suey.

“People can come in, buy the food and take it home to eat,” Couture said.

As for the food that Couture and the rest of the Andover Food Pantry are looking to purchase following the fundraiser, she said they “usually look for meat, any type of dairy product, loaves of bread, and canned foods like SpaghettiOs.”

The Andover Food Pantry helps provide food supplies to residents in Andover, Upton, the upper end of Roxbury and Byron.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com