Editor’s note: This article has been updated with corrected pantry hours.
Thanks to ongoing generosity of the community, the South Berwick Community Food Pantry has sufficient food supply to add two hours Saturday, Nov. 15, to its regular Thursday and Friday schedule.
Due to steeply increased need for food assistance and abundant donations in the past week, the pantry will be open this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. The pantry also is open every Thursday evening from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and every Friday morning from 10 to 11:30.
The one-time Saturday opening is a trial run to see if Saturday morning is the right time to expand hours when there is available food, said Tanya Cattabriga, outgoing food pantry director.
“The response from the community has been amazing,” said Cattabriga. “People are organizing food drives, donation bins are filled, monetary donations are coming in, and everyone is stepping up to do what they can.”
The pantry experienced a steady increase in the number of clients over the past several months, even before the shutdown, Cattabriga said, as expenses continue to rise and incomes remain fixed.
“We are also seeing clients needing to take more food and household supplies than in years past,” she added.
Jean Graunke, who along with Rae Avery will be co-director of the pantry in 2026, said an average of 25 to 30 clients, many of them senior citizens, visit the pantry every week.
“We don’t see the same people every time, but we are seeing about two new faces a week,” Graunke said. “Some come more frequently than others, but no one visits more than once a week.”
“We don’t turn anyone away who comes by the first time, but if they wish to become ongoing clients, they must be residents of South Berwick and fill out a registration form,” Graunke noted. “We are too small to be able serve people from other communities on a regular basis.”
Volunteers spent last weekend restocking shelves with the bounty from two major food drives the previous week.
“The Election Day food drive Tuesday filled the back of a large pickup and half of a van,” Graunke said.
And another vanload of food was collected at Friday’s dance and silent auction fundraiser sponsored by the South Berwick -Eliot and Kittery Rotary Clubs, Kennebunk Savings Bank and the J.S. Pelkey Funeral Home.
Besides the food collected, the event raised $13,000, according to Helen Goransson, Rotary co-president.
“Over 200 people attended the event – so many we ran out of tables and chairs,” Goransson said. An additional 70 community members and businesses contributed to the silent auction, and volunteers from the Rotary-sponsored Interact Club at Marshwood High School helped at the event..
Both food and monetary donations have been evenly split between the South Berwick pantry and Footprints Pantry in Kittery.
“The South Berwick-Eliot Rotary Club has been a long-time supporter of the pantry,” Graunke said. “Besides food drives, they have given us financial support and once a month Rotary and Interact members volunteer.”
In addition to the major food drives, more individuals have stepped up to help, she said.
As an example of people’s generosity, Graunke pointed to a couple, one of them a furloughed Federal employee, who took Graunke’s wish list of items the pantry needed and returned with 12 of every item on the list. Later, another family did the same thing, donating 12 of each items.
“They both filled the back of the their SUVs,” she said.
During the summer and fall harvest season individual gardeners and the Kittery Land Trust community gardeners contributed fresh vegetables; and Zach’s farmstand corn and other veggies were delivered every Thursday by Gail Sawyer, a master gardener volunteer with University of Maine’s Harvest for Hunger program.
Now, fresh vegetables are supplied by Hannaford of North Berwick, but most fresh food is purchased with pantry funds.
Although the pantry shelves were filled with food after the weekend drives, four large freezers designated for meat, fish and frozen vegetables were soon nearly empty.
“We do get protein because a lot of people donate beans, etc., but we have to buy meat from Good Shepherd (Food Bank) when available, and from local stores when we have the funds,” said Avery, pantry co-director.
Cash donations allow the pantry to purchase perishable items such as dairy products, eggs and butter as well as other items from the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn at discounted prices. Good Shepherd makes a monthly delivery to the Eliot Food Pantry, the drop-off location for food ordered by the South Berwick pantry and other area pantries. Items unavailable from Good Shepherd are purchased locally.
Cash donations are also used to purchase items for the 100 or more holiday baskets, costing about $90 each, that the food pantry assembles.
Financial contributions to the pantry can be made by visiting: https://givebutter.com/SBFood or mailing: SoBo Central, attn: South Berwick Community Food Pantry, PO Box 512, South Berwick, Maine 03908
Food Donations
The food goes out almost as fast as it comes in, according to Avery. Gesturing to the fully stocked shelves, she said, “This will be gone in no time.”
Food donations can be left during open hours at the South Berwick Public Library, Town Hall and the Food Pantry.
Fast-moving items include crackers, canned tuna or chicken, mayonnaise, salad dressings, pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, granola bars, peanut butter, paper towels, toilet paper, dish soap, shampoo and conditioner, shaving cream.
Volunteers
There have been several new volunteers in recent days, Graunke said, but “new volunteers are always welcome.”
To volunteer, contact Graunke at 207-351-6492.
Besides serving clients during the hours the pantry is open, volunteers are needed at other times: Thursday mornings, setup; Friday afternoons, cleanup; once a month, pick up the pantry’s food order from Good Shepherd at the Eliot Pantry; Wednesday and Friday mornings, pick up at Hannaford in North Berwick.
Assistance is also needed to stock shelves as donations come in.
