St. Paul’s Pantry –
An Outdoor Community Blessings Cupboard
St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church is now hosting a new community support for Woodstock residents – an outdoor community blessings cupboard. This free pantry will include non-perishable food items, hygiene products, school supplies, for example. People are welcome to take what they need and invited to contribute to the pantry as they are able.
Why did we put up this pantry?
We want to make it easier for people to help one another when it comes to putting food on the table (or in bellies) and providing for other basic needs. We know it can be hard at times to stretch the cheque to cover all needs, especially with inflation. We hope the pantry can help ease the pinch a little.
But the pantry is meant to be a blessing in other ways. It’s a cupboard of convenience for those times when you discover you are missing an ingredient as you are making a supper, or you realize late at night you are out of a hygiene product or forgot an item at the grocery store. Let the pantry represent the neighbour that helps you out.
How can you help?
We welcome donations of items to fill keep the pantry filled. We will post a pantry list of suggested items at the top of this page, but we are also adding a notebook to the pantry so that you can make suggestions too. And if you would prefer to make a donation of money or gift cards, simply contact us at stpaulspresnb@gmail.com.
And speaking of help, we are very grateful to three talented Woodstock High School students – Jersey Foster, Alfie Hopkins, and Jaden Martin – for designing and building this pantry, under the guidance of Essential Skills program instructor Peter Belyea, so this pantry could go from a hope to a reality. Your repurposing of unused building materials, and your donation of materials you purchased enabled us to increase our initial pantry budget so we could add more items to the cupboard. So thank you for your generosity and care of the environment. And thank you to your classmates who helped you install the pantry on the church property. You are a blessing and answer to our prayers. You joined more than materials together to build a pantry… you opened a door for the neighbourhood to bless and be blessed through simple acts of compassion.
View photos taken during installation of pantry
An article on St. Paul’s Pantry written by Judy Cole-Underhill for the River Valley Sun