Pop Up Fills 250 Pantries In The Hill

A neighborhood pop-up pantry in the Hill handed out 250 grocery packages to Hill residents like Roberta Lombardi, who ​“went from nothing in the house to a full cart.”

The pop-up pantry served residents driving and walking up at the Truman School and Barclay Street parking lot.

On the other side of the fence, walkers stood six feet apart with carts and reusable bags to collect the groceries.

The Hill-based New Haven Inner City Enrichment (NICE) Center worked in collaboration to distribute the food to the neighborhood with the United Way of Greater New Haven, Amistad Catholic Workers, Food in Service to the Homebound (FISH), Coordinated Food Assistance Network (CFAN), and CT Food Bank.

Since 2016 NICE has hosted a food pantry for Hill residents on the last Saturday of every month. The monthly NICE food pantry saw a huge increase in its visitors during the pandemic. After receiving a large donation from the CT Food Bank this month, NICE director Jamilah Rasheed and her team decided to get help to host an additional pantry this month.

Drivers received their food in three swift stops in the parking lot. First dairy products like milk, eggs, and a case of yogurt were loaded into the car. Then produce, including watermelon to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend. Then bread and perishable items like cereal and canned goods.

The volunteer team arrived at the site around 10:30 a.m to begin unloading the food trucks then bagging the items to make up 250 packages.

In order to avoid mixing up the pop-up pantry food with the New Haven Public School (NHPS) weekly food distribution, the team began serving residents at 1 p.m.

Hill resident Donnie Andrews (above left) picked up groceries from the pantry for his family of five on Friday.

“I really don’t know what will happen next so we’ve been trying to save money, store food, and just keep calm,” he said.

Andrews has been out of work throughout the pandemic and has three kids. ​“It’s hard because I don’t want to scare the kids but there are some days we don’t know how we’re going to buy food,” Andrews said.

In addition to getting groceries from food pantries, Andrews has started to collect bottles to cash in.

For each household picking up, a volunteer tracked down what neighborhood the resident was from and if this was their first visit to a pantry.

“With the situation crisis growing, we don’t look at them as a problem,” said Rasheed.

Roberta Lombardi hasn’t been able to work during the pandemic because she must watch after her daughter, disabled husband, and ailing mother-in-law.

Food pantries and food stamps have been helping her to feed her family. But Lombardi said she struggles to grocery shop as prices increase for items in stores and their demand increases during the pandemic.

“Nothing is affordable anymore,” she said.

Lombardi walked a block to the pantry to pick up the groceries to feed the family for at least a week.

During the pandemic especially the NICE pantry has been prioritizing providing the community with nourishing and nutritious foods. ​“This neighborhood has many families in poverty so it is important for us to give food that can improve their physical health,” Rasheed said.

As the pantry’s 250 packages neared an end, United Way Vice President for Community Impact Aly Fox arranged for Haven’s Harvest and Loaves and Fishes to pick up the leftover individual food items for their upcoming pantries and food deliveries.