For a second-home seasonal resort economy such as ours, the winter months can be one of scarcity in terms of putting food on the table. But there is a year-round need as well: As the cost of groceries — and the cost of living here generally — increases, many South Fork residents have to make tough choices regarding nutrition. For many people, this is where the food pantries come in, but in an abnormal year as the Covid-19 pandemic is on a second climb, the need is much more acute.
The South Fork food pantries have been moving at a breakneck pace since the spring, with no end in sight. Police months ago began to show up on distribution days to keep traffic flowing. Volunteers are exhausted and supplies stretched thin. Demand has tripled in the case of the Springs Food Pantry. For Thanksgiving, the East Hampton Food Pantry planned to distribute more than 2,000 free turkeys. Demand at Meals on Wheels, which serves the homebound, has doubled. The Sag Harbor Food Pantry has had steady increases in the number of people it supplies.
Helping provide fresh, locally grown produce, a number of farms and community supported-agriculture groups supply the pantries weekly. Businesses can chip in, too; each fall, Saunders and Associates, a real estate firm, pits its offices against one another in a food drive battle for bragging rights over which is the most generous, this year going digital via a GoFundMe page.
Because of the pandemic, cash donations are by far preferred to bags of canned soup and dried pasta. With cash, the pantries can target specific nutritional areas and other needs, such as maintaining refrigeration systems. Some food pantries have stopped taking in-kind donations altogether, amid concerns about Covid-19 on the surfaces of products. Cash also allows purchases in bulk at lower costs. Any amount, no matter how small, will help make a difference.
Some options: Montauk Food Pantry, P.O. Box 997, Montauk 11954. Springs Food Pantry, 5 Old Stone Highway, East Hampton 11937. East Hampton Food Pantry, P.O. Box 505, East Hampton 11937. Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry, P.O. Box 1241, Sag Harbor 11963. Bridgehampton Food Pantry, P.O. Box 1161, Bridgehampton 11932.