This February the North Bergen Food Pantry completed the move to their new location; Bergen’s United Methodist Church at 27 South Lake Street in the town of Bergen. Pastor Hoyt Brown and Trustee Hal Milward and their congregation welcomed the pantry into their church building.
With the imminent closure of North Bergen Presbyterian Church after 200 years of service to the rural community of North Bergen; the food pantry had to be relocated.
The process of searching for a new location took some time. However, with the objective of serving the rural population in the tri-county areas of Genesee, Orleans, and Western Monroe County; Bergen’s United Methodist Church seems the ideal location.
Pastor Dave Fish along with three other members of the North Bergen Presbyterian Church first opened the pantry in 2019 as an outreach mission. Pastor Dave recognized early on that the needs of the rural communities sometimes often go unnoticed.
According to Fish, “There is such need in this area, more than you would suspect. People are really hurting. The elderly and those on fixed incomes seem to fare the worst.”
Fish whose nature is to reach out to those in need continues, “I thought the easiest way to find people in need was to feed them!”
To date, the pantry has served over 1100 individuals from nearly 400 households.
The Bergen Methodist Church not only embraced the pantry, but church members also volunteered their talents completing a ramp, building and donating moving shelving units, and making space in order to accommodate the pantry with the perfect configuration to serve their needs.
Currently, several church members have joined the pantry’s board, and many others are even volunteering during pantry hours. With their welcoming attitude and help, the transition to the new location went much smoother than anticipated!
The Bergen Methodist Church is already very vital to the town of Bergen, the members actively serve the small community in many ways. Besides the 10 a.m. Sunday service, there is a Nursery School within its walls, and a weekly Wednesday night dinner. The ‘free-will dinner’ is open to anyone in the community regardless of their ability to contribute toward the meal expenses.
The pantry partners with Foodlink of Rochester and is open to anyone twice a month on the second Thursday from 5 - 8 p.m., and the last Saturday from 9 a.m. - noon. In addition to free food, there is fellowship; the pantry staff prides itself as a friendly, welcoming place for everyone.
Current volunteer, Chuck Walters says, “We started going to the pantry for food three years ago after COVID. People were so friendly and helpful. It really helped by providing us with full meals at a time when grocery stores were short on many items. Now my wife and I volunteer regularly, we enjoy meeting and helping people in the community. We have made lots of new friends and enjoy being able to give others the ability to make full meals each day, too.”
This year during Bergen’s Park Festival on Saturday, June 8, the pantry will have a booth set up and staffed by volunteers available to answer questions and hand out a schedule of their days/hours of operation. If you would like to help stop food insecurity, please bring a non-perishable food item to donate.
The next opportunity to visit the pantry will be on May 9 from 5 - 8 pm. If you need food or wish to volunteer or donate to the pantry, please call Pastor Dave Fish at 585-290-5487.
