When Marcey Sierra brings her young daughter to pick up essentials at the Belmont Food Pantry, volunteers ask the 7-year-old if she’d like to help out, too.
“She really loves it. It makes her feel important,” said Sierra, a resident and pantry client since 2021. Praising the workers, she said they are “very committed, kind, respectful …. They talk to you like a human.”
The nonprofit Belmont Food Pantry opened in 1992, founded by Patty Mihelich specifically to serve Belmont residents. Located in Town Hall, there are 230 registered clients, with about 150 coming in every month, said Mihelich. There are 75 volunteers of all ages who help the organization run smoothly, and there is room for others who are interested in signing up.
Sierra, who is disabled and cannot work, was told about the pantry by Belmont Helps, another local nonprofit. It became a lifeline during the Covid pandemic when she was stranded at home by the lockdown. Fortunately, Belmont Helps was able to drop off supplies from the pantry, and now Sierra can go there herself twice a month.
“At this pantry, every single time I’ve come, even when they’re busy … they always make it a priority to greet people, be kind, be respectful,” said Sierra. “It feels like a real community.”
At pantries in other towns, she said, “You leave feeling not great because you’ve been chastised or put down.”
Sierra says that although she receives other benefits, “it’s never enough.”
“[The pantry] definitely helps stretch the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) dollars because you can get so many of your basics,” including toiletries and cleaning products that SNAP doesn’t cover. “It makes a huge difference in the house.”
Another way the pantry helps residents is by giving out $100 grocery store gift cards during the holiday season.
“[The pantry] is a great resource … they should absolutely go,” she said, encouraging those in need to stop by. “You leave there knowing you’re going to have a full belly and a full heart because everyone is so … compassionate and dedicated.”
Increasing need
About a year before the nonprofit’s founding, Mihelich said she “knew of residents who were in need of help and were having to go to pantries in other towns. That began my quest to open a pantry in Belmont.”
Since 1992, the organization moved to several locations, including the former Waverley Fire Station’s basement, a modular building behind Belmont High School, the former Belmont Light Department building, back to the high school’s modular building, a garage at 101 Pleasant St., Mount Hope Church, and, finally, Town Hall in 2019.
The nonprofit “helps people in transitional situations to get through tough times by providing supplementary, staple foods. It serves as a safety net for Belmont residents of all ages without regard for financial status,” according to its mission statement.
“There has been an increase since we re-opened for in-person shopping in June 2022,” Mihelich said.
This mirrors statistics in the Greater Boston Food Bank’s (GBFB) fourth-annual statewide report on food equity and access in the state that was put out this year. The GBFB provides food to the Belmont pantry, among many others.
According to the report, food insecurity remained high in 2023 in Massachusetts, with approximately 1.9 million adults, or 34% of the state’s households reporting household food insecurity.
“Due to the persistently high cost of groceries and the end of many COVID-19 policies, overall food insecurity rates persist, with 1 in 3 individuals reporting running out of food or not having enough money to buy food each month,” the report states.
The pantry has been able to help meet these needs due to its generous donors and devoted, hard-working volunteers.
“Hundreds of volunteers have been the sole source of why the pantry has been able to operate for 32 years,” said Mihelich. “Every time that the call has gone out to the community for help, residents have responded, no matter what it was, above and beyond any expectations.”
For those looking to donate their time, Mihelich said volunteers are often needed on the fourth Sunday of the month.
The Belmont Food Pantry is located at Belmont Town Hall, 455 Concord Ave., on the first floor. For more information on accessing, donating or volunteering at the organization, visit belmontfoodpantry.org.
