Filling need and stomachs

In a small house on Alexander Street, Delanson residents are thrown a lifeline.

"Basically, they don't have enough to get them through next week or the next paycheck, and, sometimes, emergency food stamps don't come immediately. Here, all they need to do is just call and make an appointment," said Laura Countryman, co-director of the food pantry at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Delanson.

A group of parish volunteers started the pantry in 1990. Over the years, they have seen a jump in the number of families in need of help. This Easter, for example, the pantry served 47 households with 69 children and 97 adults.

Pick 'n' don't pay

Every month, clients from Duanesburg, Delanson, Mariaville and Princetown pick up packages filled with meat, vegetables, canned foods, pasta, rice and dry milk.

Around Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and July 4, special holiday baskets are delivered to the needy. Emergency assistance is also offered as needed.

The pantry is a member of the Schenectady County Food Providers, which includes pantries at St. Luke's and Sacred Heart/St. Columba in Schenectady. The Delanson pantry receives funds from government grants, help from the Regional Food Bank, and assistance from Our Lady of Fatima parishioners, Scout troops, school food drives and other community organizations.

Hidden hunger

As in many rural areas, hunger in the Duanesburg area can be a hidden problem. On the surface, said Ms. Countryman, pantry clients seem to be "making it," with cars, houses and jobs. Most families are working and intact.

Underneath, however, there is trouble. She explained how area residents, who need cars to drive to and from work, can find themselves slipping financially with the rising price of gas and car insurance. Many of the pantry's clients work minimum-wage jobs with few benefits, "which doesn't even bring you up to the poverty line," she said.

Increased housing costs -- mortgages, heating bills and taxes -- can also tip a family towards needing the pantry's services, she said. In January and February, Ms. Countryman, a mother of two who is involved with faith formation at Our Lady of Fatima, always talks to a few new families who have been "put over the edge" by such expenses.

Serving clients

Clients are referred by Social Services, schoolteachers and officials, concerned neighbors, and clergy from different denominations.

Part of Ms. Countryman's job is to call families referred to her. While some accept, others decline -- out of pride, because they're "doing just well enough to keep above the edge," or because of Delanson's small-town atmosphere. "They're afraid everyone will know," she explained.

The food pantry recognizes that reality and uses identification numbers to track families so they have anonymity and privacy.

(A movie-and-reception fundraiser for the Schenectady County Food Providers will be held May 16, 2 p.m., at Proctor's Theater. Tickets are $5 for a showing of "The Grapes of Wrath," and $25 for the film and a reception. Call 374-2683.)

(5/13/04) [[In-content Ad]]