Even with trouble walking and no vehicle to drive, Alvida Fogg of Standish plans to be a regular volunteer at the new food pantry in Steep Falls area of Standish.

“There’s so many people that need help in that location,” said Fogg, 89, about adding the new Catherine’s Cupboard Food Pantry at the Steep Falls Fire Station to her list of various senior citizen committees she serves on in town. Fogg has lived in Standish for three decades, and serves on the town Senior Citizen Subcommittee and the Active Senior Citizens of Standish.

The food pantry at the intersection of Boundary and Middle roads celebrated its grand opening Wednesday. The pantry will be open Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m. Those showing proof of town residency such as a utility bill or rent receipt could visit the pantry once a month.

Catherine’s Cupboard, is the combined work of St. Joseph’s College, the town of Standish and college food vendor Bon Appatit.

Rebecca Hilton, director of campus ministry at St. Joseph’s College, said the emphasis will be on helping people in Standish, but people in need from other towns will not be turned away.

“We will direct them to something more local to them,” said Hilton, such as the Alliance Church Food Pantry in Casco, the United Methodist Church in Bridgton, the Windham Food Pantry or the Raymond Food Pantry located in the Raymond Town Hall.

“There was a void here for a long period of time,” said Terry Christy of the Standish Town Council about opening the pantry. He said the previous food pantry in town was located in the Oak Hill Congregational Church, which burned in May 2004 after being struck by lightning.

Christy said he first heard talk about starting a new pantry two years ago. Hilton said she also remembers talk around that time, but said it didn’t get serious until six months ago.

Other pantry partners include Hannaford Supermarket in Standish, which donates food and grocery bags and Rippling Waters Farm, which will donate organic vegetables as they become available at the farm.

Stuart Leckie of Naples is the local general manager of Bon Appatit, a national food service company, and helped plan the Catherine’s Cupboard Food Pantry. He said his company, which manages food service at St. Joseph’s College, has been giving out 200 meals each week of surplus cooked food from cafeterias and restaurants to people in need for the past three years in southern Maine and wanted to try canned goods as well.

Catherine’s Cupboard Food Pantry is named after Catherine McAuley, who in 1831 founded the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland, an order of Catholic nuns with an emphasis on volunteer work.

Hilton said the Steep Falls Fire Station was chosen for the pantry location because it had space available for the food and is near an area where property values and personal incomes indicate residents could benefit from pantry services.

“It just makes sense, it’s an area of need,” she said. Hilton said the college is including the pantry in both its service learning, which is for course credits, and social justice and leadership programs, which are for volunteering.

Fogg, who walks with a cane and will operate the registration table, said she is happy with the restrictions the pantry is setting.

“Some people go and take advantage of pantries,” she said. Fogg said the pantry will control the food output to make sure it goes to the people who need it the most.

Hilton said people who want to donate canned goods to the pantry can find drop-off locations in Standish at the Hannaford Brothers store in Colonial Marketplace, the Standish Town Hall, St. Joseph’s College and Bonny Eagle High School.

Stuart Leckie, a general mananger with Bon Apetit, loads cans into Catherine’s Cupboard, the new food pantry in Steep Falls. The company is the food service vendor for St. Joseph’s College and established the pantry with help from the college and the town of Standish.‘Cupboard’ opens doors in Steep Falls