Food Pantry

There is a flurry of activity that happens in downtown Riverhead every Wednesday. Staff and volunteers gather from churches, soup kitchens, and food pantries from around the East End area to meet up with the Island Harvest truck, which arrives early morning to hand out equal portions of food donations for their respective locations. RISE Life Services is there. This is the one day that the RISE Food Pantry will open in Riverhead and the staff, comprised of individuals from our program meets that truck in the Main Street parking lot each week. They help other community members, they stock inventory, and they head back to prepare for the visitors they will certainly serve that day.

Enthusiastic is an understatement when meeting Jimmy, who is eager to begin the busy morning. Jimmy is in charge of making sure the food areas are clean and sanitary and serving those members of our local community that need to supplement their food stamps with donations from the Food Pantry, in order to avoid hunger. Ray is the driver, who will work with the others each Wednesday morning to meet the island Harvest truck, stock inventory, and hopefully, in the future, deliver to the needy and elderly who cannot leave their homes. Schott is the manager, who keeps track of it all, including keeping temperature logs on the food and keeping inventory accurate. Each staff member who works for the Food Pantry receives minimal supervision from JoAnn Vitale, the coordinator. They are independent and handle it all and they are proud of their accomplishments, as well as the paycheck they receive for a job well done each week.