Hunting season is over and the turkey bones are in the trash. Families are cruising the aisles of the stores, with their wish lists in hand. Regardless of the cost of gasoline and fuel, most people in our town will proceed through the holidays, the same as they have in other years. Some will be planning a family vacation to Disneyworld or a warm beach. But there are others who just want to make it through the week.

One place where business is really booming is the Windham Food Pantry. On the first Monday of November, when the doors opened at 5:30 p.m., 57 families were lined up outside in the dark, waiting for help. Volunteers who help at the pantry have set up a time schedule in order to provide for this increase in need and it’s almost guaranteed that more and more will need the help, as winter settles in.

During the holiday season, donations to the food pantry always increase and many groups and individuals want to make sure that everyone has at least a good holiday meal. This help is so welcome and truly appreciated.

After the holidays, when the winter sits on us like a large cold blanket, and the fuel tanks and wood piles get emptied, what then?

If I had a wish list for my hometown this winter it would include true voluntary support of the food pantry. Food stamps help, but cannot come near to providing needed nutrition. And those who rant and rave about food stamps and welfare are lucky. Obviously they’ve never tried to feed themselves and/or a family on less than $1 per meal (average food stamps). And for the initiated, food stamps do not cover soap and cleaning products.

Here’s my wish list for Windham Food Pantry. Let’s see if wishes still come true. First, for those who have an extra $20 (or more), instead of a restaurant lunch, mail that check to the food pantry. They will use it to buy milk and meat and eggs for your neighbors.

Set a large cardboard box somewhere in your house (or office) and fill it with bars of soap, dish detergent, shampoo (even those tiny sample sizes), toothpaste or denture cleaner, toilet paper, baby wipes and diapers, paper towels, unopened bottles of perfume and shaving lotion you’re never going to use, cans of tuna fish and chicken, corned beef and other packaged high-protein food; jars of jam and boxes of Jell-O and pudding packages (everyone has a sweet tooth!), trash bags, hand lotion, disposable razors – the list could go on and on. While people are scraping enough money together to buy gasoline or kerosene or oil, they are not going to be spending for extras – like cleaning supplies.

The Food Pantry receives some funding from taxpayers through the town budget and a great deal of support from churches, businesses, organizations and individuals. In addition, fundraisers like yard sales add dollars to what is needed, but as most of us know, the need is increasing and will not decrease this winter, for certain.

Please help. Hold a raffle and give the proceeds to the food pantry. Take up a collection in your office (canned goods one week, boxed food the next) and donate them to the food pantry.

Those who use the food pantry include older people whose total income may be less than $500 a month, young families with only one worker and three or four children; a person living alone, and temporarily disabled or a mom and child left on their own.

Along with the increase in the gas and fuel prices, food prices are escalating. Let’s make sure our fellow citizens are not hungry this winter.

And what about that freezer full of deer or moose meat? Can you spare some for the food pantry? Thank you!

For more information on how you can help – or if you could use help – call 892-1931.

See you next week.