Wellfleet Food Pantry Searches for New Home
Cape Cod News editorial staff
An increase in demand and the growth that comes with that means the Wellfleet Food Pantry needs a larger home.
“We have seen a big growth in our number of shoppers ... from 2020 we had 160 families; in 2023 we had 203 families ... 21 percent were over 65 and 17 percent were children....”
Cindy Batcheldere,
Board Member, Wellfleet Food Pantry
What is happening with the Wellfleet Food Pantry?
21 August 2024 — WELLFLEET, MA — By responding to surge in demand, the Wellfleet Food Pantry's products have spilled out of its current space in Grace Chapel on Lieutenant Island Road in South Wellfleet -- and the nonprofit is working to find a solution to better handle its shoppers needs. With an October deadline for the move, the organization says it is working with the town to find temporary trailer space while working on a longer term plan at the Wellfleet Senior Center.
What options does the organization have?
Over the past several months, a range of conversations with churches, nonprofits, and the Wellfleet Elementary school yielded no options. In order to keep running, the pantry is working with the town to secure temporary trailer space. It says it is also close to signing a long-term lease at the town's senior center, although completing the space and moving in lies about two years in the future.
What will happen at the senior center?
Should this long-term lease come to fruition, the organization will develop between 1200-1500sf to handle donation and shopping uses. It says the space would be sufficient to meet the continually growing demand is sees.
The new space would cost about $1M but the organization says all the money will come from fundraising and it will not impact town taxes. To date it has raised approximately $375,000 of the $1M goal. It anticipates opening the space within two years from the finalizing of a lease with the town.
What does the Wellfleet Food Pantry do?
The Food Pantry operates under the umbrella of the Lower Cape Outreach Council and in collaboration with the Greater Boston Foodbank. It runs like a mini grocery store and opens three days a week with more than 40 volunteers. Volunteer stress that the shopping experience - rather than offering pre-packaged bags of food - meets the community's needs best.
Cape Cod's older population, high cost of living, and seasonal economy have driven demand fo the pantry's services and the trends suggests that need will only grow, which is why the group days it is planning for the next 20 years of operation with this move.
