By Marion Callahan
from The Intel
While food pantries nationwide are struggling to keep shelves stocked, organizers of the New Britain Baptist Food Larder are filled with gratitude as donations flow in from grassroots community outreach efforts. They hope the giving continues, as more people are expected to flock to pantries in the coming months.
At a time of unprecedented crisis and change, New Britain Baptist Food Larder coordinators Dottie and Byron Rimmer, both 76, know one need is constant and only likely to grow.
“It’s food insecurity,” said Dottie Rimmer.
“We are the ones supposed to be staying home,” she added.
“But how could we?” said her husband, Byron, opening the door of the emergency food pantry to pull in a shopping cart full of donations on one recent Wednesday.
Despite the new, “more distant″ drive-thru logistics in place to collect donations and distribute food to the needy, one overcast chilly day marked by an influx of community donations brought a surge of warmth and encouragement to pantry volunteers.
How to give help or get help
New Britain Baptist Food Larder: 22 E. Butler Ave., New Britain.
Donations are given from 9 a.m. to noon Mondays.
Community donations are accepted Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon or by appointment: 215-345-9170.
A list of pantries across the region can be found on the Bucks County Opportunity website at https://www.bcoc.org/i-need-help-with/food-2/food-pantries-and-hours/.
“We are holding our own, and it’s because of community support,” Dottie Rimmer said.
She said a campaign started by a few volunteer shoppers, then embraced and further fueled by the Doylestown Neighbors United Facebook site, helped through a post raise more than 1,000 pounds of donations in one week.
“But as fast as it is coming in, we are still putting it out.”
While food pantries nationwide are struggling to keep shelves stocked, the Rimmers who have managed the food larder for more than two decades are overflowing with gratitude.
The larder provides about 10 days’ worth of groceries and household items for 650 regular clients, who come monthly from the Central Bucks and New Hope area. The number of those qualifying for help is expected to spike as the economic impact of the coronavirus continues to grow.
“We know it could be very hard for people to come in here. But this is what we are here for to help people get over that hump,” said Dottie Rimmer, adding that food allotments to clients provide “emergency supply” relief, not a full month’s supply.
“We anticipate the needs increasing as a lot more people will be out of work,” she said.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved an emergency waiver for Pennsylvania, allowing more food to be distributed across the state at food banks, pantries and pop-up distribution sites. The move also temporarily waives the need to verify household eligibility.
To stay in operation, the Rimmers and their skeletal staff of volunteers have to remain healthy. Due to COVID-19, many pantries are reducing hours or closing, according to county websites. To keep safe, the New Britain pantry is down to a fraction of its volunteer support.
Byron Rimmer wants to keep it that way.
“We have to limit who comes in here,” he said.
Rimmer said a small staff is needed to safeguard volunteers, donors and clients. Food donations are collected in a shopping cart outside and delivered to people through their car trunks or windows. Each volunteer wears gloves and keeps the pantry sanitized.
Of the 29 families that drove through the larder to pick up food on a recent cold and rainy day, Dottie Rimmer said, “Many rolled their windows down and thanked us.”
The Rimmers are appreciative, too. They can’t do it alone. As coronavirus concerns and cases rise, they credit a community army working behind the scenes. The effort of a few grows into a cause for many.
Barbara Darnell, the Rimmers said, was an early catalyst.
Darnell and her “First Wednesdays” group, including Rachel May Morgan and RaeAnn Banker, have scraped money together from their own income and community donations once a week to shop for what is needed at the larder. Darnell recalled the early contribution that gave her a sense of the need in the community.
“I had just enough cash in my wallet for 26 bottles of detergent, thinking that would support the needs of the larder for a while,” she said. “I was wrong. When I arrived at the church to deliver my load, I saw the longest line I had ever witnessed all patiently waiting for their turn to fill their allotted one bag of groceries. Because that’s all they get each month one grocery bag. I was told that my 26 bottles of detergent wouldn’t last the day. They didn’t last the morning.”
When the pandemic hit, an avalanche of support came from the community.
After a plea for donations was posted on a Doylestown Neighbors United Facebook page, members raised more than $1,000 in less than two hours for the larder. An additional $7,500 was raised through GoFundMe, to support area pantries and families facing food instability, as well as to help source personal protective equipment for local health care facilities and hospital workers.
Darnell was then paired with Warrington resident Mariah Drenth-Cormick to help use those donations to buy the necessary supplies.
“Mariah is a force of nature,” Darnell said. “Both her car and her Facebook page have a Wonder Woman theme, and it couldn’t be more apt. We’re best friends already.”
At the larder last week, Darnell, Drenth-Cormick, Tony Forliano, Lisa Roman-Lucci, Blake Lertzman and Stacey Crescitelli wore masks and gloves and kept a safe distance as they unloaded donations made possible by the community’s generosity.
Darnell said the donations were supplemented by 250 freshly made bagels provided by Don Bradley from the Chalfont Manhattan Bagel, as well as feminine hygiene and personal care products from the group I Support the Girls.
And the connections keep growing. Maria Sedenger, a manager at Dollar Tree, continues to put aside cases of eggs, which are increasingly in short supply.
“She’s paying for them out of her own pocket,” Darnell said.
Drenth-Cormick said the “virtual spider web of connections” is enabling people in their own ways through a donation, a shopping trip or spreading awareness to find a way to be “warriors in this time of crisis.”
Darnell hopes the momentum continues.
“A lot of tiny pieces is what it takes to keep this operation going,” she said.
The resilience of Byron and Dottie Rimmer has been inspiring, Darnell said. The Rimmers plan to continue distributing donations on Mondays for as long as they can.
“They have been quietly and steadfastly manning the helm of the New Britain Baptist Food Larder for the past 20 years,” Darnell said.
“They are the heroes of this story, as is every single person who has donated even a dollar from their wallet. They’re doing their darnedest to keep the fragile from falling through the cracks.”
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