The Capital Region Food Program’s distribution efforts are a “just-in-time operation,” said Maria Painchaud, secretary of the board. With the addition of two new agency partners, the well-oiled machine chugs onward with even more power.
On May 27, the CRFP announced its collaboration with Overcomers Refugee Services and the Payson Center for Cancer Care as part of its Year Round Distribution Project. Overcomers and the Payson Center join 35 other agency partners that receive monthly food supplies from the CRFP.
“The Capital Region Food Pantry has always been clear that we’re not in competition — we’re in partnership with all these different organizations,” said Painchaud, a founding volunteer and former chair of the CRFP.
Here’s how it works: The agencies place orders via email for the provisions they want on the 25th of each month. The form ensures that they have the appropriate resources for their respective populations. Each organization can receive 20 cases of food per month, but no more than four cases of a particular item.
The CRFP compiles the orders and forwards them to Associated Grocers, where representatives line up to receive their supplies, typically on the second Tuesday of the month. From there, distribution is up to each agency.
“‘You guys have got your systems in place. You know what you’re doing, you’ve got it right — there’s no question in our minds. So let us support you,’” Painchaud said of the CRFP’s partners.
The Overcomers — a nonprofit organization assisting refugees with the immigration process, appointment scheduling, mail interpretation and more — had previously participated in the CRFP’s Holiday Project, through which individuals grappling with food insecurity receive vouchers for Market Basket.
So, Painchaud already knew Clement Kigugu, the organization’s founder and executive director, when he asked her about establishing his own food pantry.
“We met and had coffee together,” Kigugu said. “They told me about their program, and they said, ‘We have been struggling with the new Americans and how we can reach out to them.’”
Their new partnership mutually benefits each organization. The CRFP expands its scope to reach the refugee community, who may otherwise be isolated by language barriers, and the Overcomers’ aid broadens to include nutrition.
Clients receiving any of the Overcomers’ services will also be able to access “the donation room,” stocked with nonperishable food items to be taken home.
Before now, the CRFP and the Payson Center had never officially collaborated. But as an organization falling under the Concord Hospital, Painchaud had faith they were “legit.”
The Payson Center is doing things a little differently, though: instead of establishing a physical pantry, they plan to send patients home with food bags.
“The options are high-protein foods, foods that are going to actually give the individual energy to be able to fight their disease,” said Tamara Wrenn, the director of the Payson Center. She listed canned tuna, fruits, vegetables and rice as staples that will be offered.
For patients undergoing radiation or chemotherapy, weight loss is common. With the CRFP’s reinforcements, the Payson Center hopes to prevent malnourishment.
“Our goal is to sustain them so that they can get through their treatment,” Wrenn said.
When the distribution kick-starts later this summer, patients seeking food assistance will meet with a Payson Center social worker to determine their eligibility. From there, nurse navigators and dieticians at the hospital’s Hope Resource Center will tailor pre-packaged food bags to their needs and restrictions, which will be distributed during appointments.
Wrenn anticipates that the food provisions will benefit the household at large, feeding dependent family members as well as the patient themselves.
“If this pilot project takes off, and there’s a greater need than what we anticipate, then we can go back and request funding to create a self-service pantry. But we’re not there yet,” Wrenn said.
She acknowledged that patients juggle medication and transportation expenses alongside nutrition, and said the Payson Center’s food services will hopefully serve as an “adjunct” for any other community or governmental aid they receive.
As the program’s 36th and 37th agency partners, the Overcomers and the Payson Center provide avenues to new communities previously untouched by the CRFP’s year-round food distribution: refugees and cancer patients, respectively.
“This is the one thing that’s so marvelous about the Capital Region Food Program: we are not stuck in the way we’ve always done it. We’re always looking for ways of enhancing and improving,” Painchaud said.
