History of the New London Area Food Pantry - Part 3 (move to the VFW)

Once the pandemic had waned, we started to see a significant increase (41% YoY from late 2022 to 2023) in our numbers of guests, both in individuals and in families, averaging over 240 families/week in early 2024.

After several years of looking for a new location for the Pantry within New London, we were running out of viable and acceptable options by late 2023. At the same time, the OIC management wanted to redesign their basement and needed the Pantry to vacate by 12/31. Enter the VFW. The VFW commander, Felix Santana, was one of our volunteer food delivery drivers. As luck would have it, they had space that was only used sparingly for special events such as birthdays. This space was ideal for our purposes with an entry area, main room for food distribution, and back room for our freezers/fridges. It also was a win-win situation for us and for the VFW as we provided a ready revenue stream to them through rent and their members could still occupy the other half of the building. Both parties are thrilled with our new working situation. We were able to move from the OIC to the VFW within 2 weeks, closing on 12/22 from the OIC and reopening on 1/8 at the VFW.

Most importantly, we are able to offer a more dignified Client Choice program to our guests. We will continue to make improvements to our new home.

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