Supporting Our Western Upper Montgomery County Partners
With summer behind us and autumn in full swing, Buddhist Relief continued its regular deliveries to our partners in Poolesville. WUMCO Help, the Poolesville Little Free Pantry, and Buddhist Relief work together in multiple ways to meet the needs of scores of households in the rural region of western upper Montgomery County. From monthly food boxes to weekly produce distributions, to weekend food programs and summer lunch programs for elementary students, and a 24 hour little free pantry, Buddhist Relief works together with our Partners to support the community.
On Wednesday Sept 11, Buddhist Relief delivered a total of 528 lbs of food to WUMCO. This included 60 dozen eggs, 24 packages of masa, 24 bottles of vegetable oil, and 240 lbs of fruit. We also delivered our regular selection of produce, dairy, and non-perishables totaling 754 lbs of food to the Poolesville Little Free Pantry.
On Wednesday Sept. 25, Buddhist Relief delivered a total of 1670 lbs of food to our Poolesville Partners. The Poolesville Little Free Pantry received 287 lbs of produce, plus 547 lbs of dairy items and shelf stable pantry items. These items are distributed twice daily, each time filling the outdoor pantry box. Buddhist Relief also delivered 458 lbs of pantry items for their Backpack Bites program, where a bag of nonperishables with foods such as tuna, rice, pasta, canned vegetables, canned chicken, oatmeal, shelf-stable milk, fruit cups, etc. is sent home every weekend during the school year. As with many of our partners, the need for this program is growing, and the number of students and their families has increased over 30% from last year.
WUMCO received 200 lbs of fruit, 3 dozen eggs, 30 lbs of ground beef, and pantry staples such as oil, spices, and seasonings for a total of 374 pounds. The fruit is distributed at the Thursday evening produce distribution which runs from late spring to the end of October and is supported by donations from local farmers.
This past week, we delivered 822 pounds of food to the Poolesville Little Free Pantry and 392 pounds of produce, eggs, and cheese to WUMCO. We made a stop on our way there to pick up a delivery from Farm At Home, part of the Community Food Rescue program run by Manna, delivering an additional 130 pounds of apples and 40 pounds of peppers.
