Improvements announced at Sweden Food Pantry

The Sweden Food Pantry announces improvements to its facility.

Sweden Food Pantry volunteer and board member Miriam Gibely of Sweden at a new bench/table. Submitted photo

The pantry has ordered a half cow over the past two years, all ground meat. The board decided to forego that option because of the availability of beef at a lower cost at Good Shephard Food Bank.

An anonymous donor struck a deal with Smith’s Homestead of Stow to offer locally sourced ground beef at the food pantry, according to a news release from Carol Madsen with the pantry.

The new porch on the Sweden Food Pantry provides safety for shoppers and volunteers. Submitted photo

Secondly, the pantry has been made safer for shoppers and volunteers. The lower-level door, where participants drive up to pick up their groceries after shopping, has a newly constructed porch which protects people and groceries from falling snow and ice from the roof as well as rain.

The 6-foot wide and 15-foot long porch was designed and constructed by Crowell Construction of Harrison. Sweden Community Church, owner of the building, decided it wanted to pay for that porch for the food pantry.

Also, with a resiliency grant facilitated by Good Shepard Food Bank, the pantry was able to acquire new school-style cafeteria tables which can be converted to benches. This will be convenient for volunteer and board meetings and cleaning of the pantry. They also add extra space for the disbursement of produce with larger aisles. Two tables, bright yellow winter gear, and hand warmers for volunteer transporters rounded out this grant.

The food pantry is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Serving the towns of Bridgton, Fryeburg, Harrison, Lovell, Stoneham, Stow, Sweden, and Waterford; no eligible family is turned away.

For more information, call 207-647-5735 or visit swedenfoodpantry.org.