SaintAnthonyNewBedford.com

St. Anthony's Food Pantry

Overview
St. Anthony of Padua during his lifetime had a great love for the poor and served them as if he were serving Christ. He has been invoked for centuries as a special patron of feeding the poor and needy. In many cities, there sprung up the tradition of “St. Anthony’s bread,” giving bread to those who are hungry.

Here, each Thursday, from noon to two in the afternoon, our parish food pantry continues that tradition in the St. Anthony parish hall.

In the past year, our food pantry has grown because the need is ever-expanding. Many weeks it provides nourishment to over one-hundred households.

In addition to giving those who come a bag full of hearty staples to take home with them, it provides a warm meal of soup, sandwiches, donated pastries and drinks. It also sets out donated clothing that those in need can take with them.

Once a month the Greater New Bedford Health Center visits to offer free blood-pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar readings.

Most weeks, ladies from our parish S.A.L.T. group are present to offer those who come by spiritual assistance, rosaries, prayer booklets and the like.

Volunteers
To run a food pantry that helps so many families requires many volunteers doing many things. Among other things, there is a need for people to help:

Pack and unpack groceries
Sign in new participants
Manage crowd control at the door.
Prepare and serve soup, sandwiches, pastries and drinks.
Pick up food each month at the Greater Boston Food Bank’s New Bedford location.
Sort through and distribute donated clothing.
Clean
Do various types of paperwork.

On Thursdays, many volunteers arrive at 10 am to get ready to open the food pantry. Others arrive later and help to close up the food pantry at 2 and clean afterward. Many help out the whole session. Volunteers are welcome to contribute as much time as they can. To volunteer, you may simply come by on a Thursday. You may also call the director of the food pantry, Paula Briden, at 508.994.9907, or email her at bpaula1@aol.com.

Other help
Our food pantry has been blessed by the assistance of many business, churches and St. Vincent de Paul conferences. For example:

Parishes — In addition to the contributions of St. Anthony’s parishioners, who bring non-perishable food to the weekend Masses, other parishes help out. One notable one among others is St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford, which collects twenty cases of food every eight weeks, helps out with thanksgiving turkey vouchers, with presents for poor families at Christmas and more.
St. Vincent de Paul Conferences — Vincentians from the Cape routinely bring bread for distribution.
Bakeries — Various local bakeries bring by surplus bread or donuts for distribution.
Schools — Youngsters at local schools, like St. Anthony’s elementary schools, take up regular collections of food and clothing for the needy at the pantry.
Religious orders — Various men and women religious in the area bring by boxes of food which have been given to them that go beyond their needs.

Our food pantry is always in need of more food to be able to help out the poor. If you belong to one of these groups or others and may be able to help, please call the director of the food pantry, Paula Briden, at 508.994.9907, or email her at bpaula1@aol.com.

Monetary donations
The food pantry is always in need of money, to supplement donated food, to provide for soups and sandwiches, to purchase needed equipment for food and equipment storage. Donations can always be mailed to the St. Anthony’s Food Pantry, 1359 Acushnet Avenue, New Bedford, MA, 02746 or made online by clicking here
.

Information for those in need of food
We follow the guidelines of the Greater Boston Food Bank, which requires that those receiving food need to be obtaining some type of assistance from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, like

Mass Health
Food Stamps
W.I.C. (Care for Women, Infants and Children)
Fuel Assistance

Those who do not meet these criteria may still be eligible depending upon their annual gross income.

The first time a person or family comes for assistance, they need to have two forms of picture identification, such as

Massachusetts Driver’s License
Medicare I.D.
Mass Health I.D.
State Picture I.D.

Families may come to receive aid each week.

Articles on the Food Pantry
The work of the food pantry has caught the attention of the Catholic and secular media.

Biblical Inspiration

Jesus said to his disciples:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’

Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”