Welcome

 

 

Continued Covid Policy...

When you arrive at ICC at your scheduled food pickup time, please drive past our building, turn around and pull up along the edge of ICC.  We will bring your items to your car.

Thank you for your cooperation.

All volunteers are fully vaccinated and wear a mask for the health and safety of everyone.

Irondequoit Community Cupboard, Inc.

The Irondequoit Community Cupboard, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization designed to meet a variety of needs for families and individuals in the Town of Irondequoit, NY.

Mission Statement

“To provide emergency assistance to Irondequoit residents with dignity, kindness and without prejudice.”

Vision

"To raise awareness of the presence and impact of hunger and poverty in our community. We envision a community where all people share resources to ensure that residents’ basic needs are met in times of limited resources.

We advocate for and reach out to those in need and try to influence public policy so that every person in our community has the necessary support and resources to enhance nutrition, health and welfare.”

Amazon.com for ICC

This will only take a moment of your time; I know you shop at Amazon, especially for the holidays. You can help the Irondequoit Community Cupboard just by going to https://smile.amazon.com and then type in Irondequoit Community Cupboard You would then continue to shop whatever it was you were shopping for and we get a (small) dollar percentage of your order. So we win for you doing what you were going to do anyway. This would be a great and easy way for you to “Help us Help others” in our community.

For more information you can go to Facebook page for up to date photos and info https://www.facebook.com/Irondequoit-Community-Cupboard-Inc-180196068672489/?fref=ts

United Way
Remember us at United Way giving time we are designee #2466

Bottle and Can Returns
Great news!!! Thanks to Bob Schultz for making me aware of a unique (to us) way for us to raise some money. If you need to return bottles and cans, and who doesn’t, you can bring them to Quick Cans Recycling at 471 East Ridge Road, Rochester, NY 14621, and donate the proceeds to us just by mentioning the Irondequoit Community Cupboard.

If you are in need of assistance, please call (585) 336-9107.
(no appointments are made online)

Distribution Hours (BY APPOINTMENT ONLY)
Tuesday & Saturday from 9:30AM - 11:00AM.

Office Hours (BY PHONE ONLY)
Monday & Wednesday 9:00AM - 4:00PM
Fridays 9:00AM-12:00PM

"Letter from the President"
(May 2022)

Dear Friends,
Before I forget, I am now beginning the sign-ups for June through September. If you are a current volunteer, please contact me to get you on the calendar, even if you think I already know your dates, I want to confirm them; summer is a busy time for all of us.

We are really into spring now and for many people, spring is a season of new beginnings and hope, but this is not the case for everyone. This past week I have worked endlessly for a family that was recently evicted from their home of 11 years. The family includes a mom and dad and 6 children (a set of 4-year-old triplets in this beautiful family) I have had the misfortune of trying to work through a system that needs work. In a system that is insufficient, especially for two parent families. It has been a week of frustration and eye-opening experiences and education into the world of homelessness, I hope you will never have to endure.

This family spent the first couple of nights in their vehicle, the next at a shelter and the next night after that they had to be split in half; females in one facility in Gates and the males at the VOA Shelter in the city. Imagine the trauma of first being evicted from your home, leaving many of your belongings, not knowing where you were going to stay each night, and then splitting the family up in addition to all of that! To say this has been traumatic for the children is an understatement. If any of you have lived through trauma, you know it is not something easily erased.

Many people are fortunate to have family that can help them in these uncertain times, but some do not. Housing for the homeless is at an all-time high and if you are a family unit, it is near impossible to find shelter. In East Irondequoit alone, 27 families, 43 children have gone homeless just this year. I think it is time that we as a community look for a solution right here in our own town so that the trauma doesn’t have to be a daily thing while looking to get resettled into housing. So that children can still play with their friends, go “home” after school to do homework instead of having to wait every day to see where they will end up.

Thank you to those of you who have helped me on this journey of supporting this family, it was separate from the Irondequoit Community Cupboard and many of you really stepped up and I know they are very grateful. “Neighbors helping Neighbors” is something I truly believe in and I tell you seeing people come forward in a time like this makes me feel a little bit better even though the daily news has become unbearable to take.

The following may be redundant for some of you, but we at ICC are really trying to make sure we get the word out and let everyone know about our exciting news.

Like many, when you buy your first home, you think to yourself, this is amazing, we will never fill all this space. But for many of you who have volunteered at ICC or visited us, you know we have long outgrown the space. In fact, we pack our weekly backpacks in shifts because there isn’t enough space to work safely, especially during Covid. And the holidays…we can barely walk in the aisles. We limit the number of volunteers because we are bursting at the seams.

Although our 1200 sq ft building has served us well, the increase in client numbers since 2006 has grown dramatically. In 2021, we provided food for 78,414 meals. Since Covid we have provided food for 166,220 meals. We provide food for a weekly backpack program at all our elementary schools, and we provide food and small gift cards to the middle and high schools so they may have a small pantry on site. Our Weekend Backpack Program has provided food and drinks for 6,989 backpacks since Covid. We have also added services and with all these facts combined, we have exceeded the capacity for efficient processing and storage. In addition to all of that, we are on a dead-end street which can be difficult, at best, when we are busy.

We have been searching for new space for the past 3 years and this has led us to the building at 2841 Culver Rd. This building offers 3500 sq feet and is wide open on the main floor. In addition, the possibility of an at grade, covered loading area with improved traffic circulation is just what we need.

None of this would be possible without Federal funding from the Covid Relief Fund and the American Rescue Plan Act that former Town Supervisor, Dave Seeley and Congressman Joe Morelle was able to secure for us. We are grateful to them and the current town Supervisor and Board Members for this incredible donation to ICC. The building was paid for by these funds. We are beyond grateful for this opportunity to provide our amazing and beautiful community with a food pantry that will more than double our space, provide oodles of parking, allow us to have a permanent covered drive thru with easy entrance and exit capabilities and provide new programs as well.

This property will also allow us more room and opportunities for services to residents in the case of another pandemic. I think THIS building, at 2841 Culver Rd will provide Irondequoit with a food pantry that will bring us into the future and remain long after I am gone.

While this building will be new to us, it certainly is not a new building. It was built in 1889 as a 2-room brick school and remained a school until 1927 when it was sold to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge. The Turkish Society purchased the building in 1979 and we are now purchasing it from them. While we believe it has a lot of character and history and we love the look, but it needs a lot of work. We are confident that with grants we have already secured and donations from kind and generous donors and some limited fundraising, we will be able to turn this building into something special. And again, we are so grateful for this opportunity, and we are extremely grateful to all of our friends and donors, both past and present, that will be there to see this to fruition.

You will soon be receiving our newsletter by mail, which serves as our only actual fundraiser that we do. Part of the funds raised will go to improvements and safety measures at the new building. We look forward to showing the place off during an Open House when we move in, later this year.

Sincerely,

Debbie Evans, President
Executive Director
(585)336-9107

Lisa Loeser, Chairperson
MaryJo Toepfer, Vice Chairperson
John Kane, Treasurer
Cherie Evans, Secretary

Diane Zaccarine, Corresponding Secretary
Mary Bragg, Board Member
John Villeneuve, Board Member

WAYS TO GIVE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

* Go to RoctheDay.org and then Irondequoit Community Cupboard -every dollar makes a difference. Starting at midnight 12/1/2021.

* Go to our website at www.irondequoitcommunitycupboard.org and click on our Paypal link.
* Look at our Top 10 list always listed on our Facebook page or our website. (see below) and choose an item to purchase for us

* Donate food items for our Holiday basket

* Donate food items for our Weekend Backpack Program

* Donate gift cards for those who come to us after all of our deadlines have passed.

* Check donations can be made payable to ICC c/o Debbie Evans
PO Box 17834 Rochester, NY 14617