George along with Brad Schwartz, Kevin O'Conner, Bob Gentile, Peggy Garland, Pat Madigan, Brandy Lloyd, Dawn Meyer, the Carmel Rotary, ShopRite, Carmel HS Interact, Carmel HS National Honor Society, Carmel HS Future Business Leaders of America, St. James the Apostle Church, Gilead Presbyterian Church, St. Andrew's Episcopal, St. Lawrence O'Toole, St. John's the Evangelist, St Luke's Episcopal, and St. James Episcopal deserve a huge measure of appreciation for all of the hard work that went into organizing the event, collecting and distributing the food and helping the people of our Community.

The following article appeared in the Jourmal News regarding this event:

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903200362

The number of residents turning to Putnam's food pantries has soared and some former donors have become recipients of the food aid.

At the pantry at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Brewster, the numbers have doubled since last fall with 84 families turning up for assistance in a single day last week, said John Brand, a board member.

To help meet the growing need, the Carmel Rotary Club and ShopRite of Carmel have formed a food drive partnership that will continue through mid-September. Saturday, the local Rotary, ShopRite and students from Carmel High School, will work to increase public awareness with flyers, music, and free hot dogs and soda. A ShopRite tractor trailer will be stationed in front of the supermarket on Route 52, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. to accept donations of non-perishable items in non-glass containers.

"People are really concerned," said George Knoechel, who helped start the Rotary Club and ShopRite partnership that serves the pantries at St. Andrew's, the Putnam Community Action Program in Brewster, Gilead Presbyterian Church in Carmel, and St. John the Evangelist Church in Mahopac. "There's a terrible need."

The surge in demand at St. Andrew's comes from people who are recently out of work, Brand said. Some are using their newly found free time to volunteer at the pantry, he added.

St. Andrew's pantry now restricts food distribution to residents of northern Westchester and eastern Putnam counties.

"We used to help anybody but we had to cut back," Brand said.

Marisa O'Leary, assistant director of CAP, said the anti-poverty agency served 403 families, or 1,053 people, in February. Last year for the same period, CAP assisted 252 families, or 653 people.

Much of the increase is middle-income families who have lost jobs or had their working hours cut, O'Leary said.

Often they are single-parent families with a female head of household, she said.

"We have seen people who were donors to the holiday toy program accessing our services," she said.

More people are also using the CAP soup kitchen, O'Leary said, with 1,021 meals served last month compared to 812 meals in February 2008, she said.

Food donations from the Rotary Club and school food drives are essential because CAP used up its $16,400 annual state grant to buy food for the pantry in January and does not expect new state funding before July, O'Leary said.

"We could not do this without the support of the community," she said.