In view of rising costs for life’s necessities, especially for older residents or families with children, local food pantries stand ready to help.
Volunteers are friends and neighbors who may benefit from the existence of the pantry or they may be people who simply want to lend a hand by helping their communities.
Groceries and fresh produce can be just out of reach for families on a budget that struggles to stretch far enough. It might not be all the time, but sometimes a bit of local assistance can make a big difference.
Periodically, The Millerton News looks in on the area food bank programs and updates readers on availability, location, hours and other details. While we try to be accurate at the outset, sometimes hours might change, so it is best to call ahead before visiting.
Understand that these locations are staffed by volunteers who want nothing more than to welcome their neighbors with a warm smile and good wishes. Volunteers are always needed to keep the pantries up and running smoothly. Donations of a few hours of time, groceries and funds are always welcome.
Millerton/North East
Location: North East Community Center (NECC), 51 South Center St. Phone: 518-789-4259, ext. 124. Email: foodaccess@neccmillerton.org. Hours: Every Wednesday, 3-6 p.m. and Thursday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
The NECC Food and Supply Pantry offers groceries and household supplies to local residents prioritizing nutrition. Member: Regional Food Bank of New York. Partnered with Glynwood Foundation’s Food Sovereignty Fund and its partnership with Rock Steady Farm and Chaseholm Farm to offer fresh vegetables, grass-fed yogurt and beef. Volunteers needed: Yes. Donations needed: Yes. More information: www.neccmillerton.org
Location: NorthEast-Millerton Library — two programs. The Little Library Pantry at Veterans Park, at the intersection of Main Street and Dutchess Avenue. Hours 24/7. Take what you need, leave what you can. Also, the Little Free Grocery at the Library, 75 Main St. Phone: 518-789-3340 or submit an order at www.nemillertonlibrary.org for pickup at the library. Residency requirements: No. Volunteers needed: No. Donations needed: Yes, online or to P.O. Box 786, Millerton, NY 12546.
Amenia
Location: Sun River Health, 3360 Route 343. Phone: 845-476-9343. Dutchess County Outreach Mobile Food Pantry. Hours: Every Wednesday, 2-5 p.m. Supported by a grant from Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and additional support from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. Residency requirements: No. Volunteers needed: No. Donations needed: No.
Location: Vine and Branches. Immaculate Conception-St. Anthony’s Parish Catholic Church, 11 Lavelle Road. Phone: 845-373-8193. Nonperishable food items. Hours: Third Saturday of each month, 10-10:30 a.m. Residency requirements: No. Volunteers needed: No. Donations needed: Yes.
Amenia Union
Location: The Food of Life/Comida de Vida Food Pantry. St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 40 Leedsville Road. Phone: 845-373-9161. Emphasis on fresh produce and nutritious foods, organic, locally sourced. Bilingual support staff/volunteers. Hours: Fridays, 2-5 p.m. Residency requirements: No. Volunteers needed: Yes. Go to www.stthomasamenia.com to sign up to volunteer. Donations: Yes. For information, email: contactus@stthomasamenia.com
Ancramdale
Location: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Association at the Presbyterian Church Hall, at the intersection of routes 8 and 82. Phone: Jack Lindsey, 518-329-7306 or Hila Richardson, 917-414-8270. Hours: Mondays, 5-6 p.m. Call for an appointment. Residency requirements: Ancram Township. Volunteers needed: No. Donations: Yes.
Copake/Hillsdale
Location: Roe Jan Food Pantry, 2684 State Route 23, Hillsdale. Phone: Betty White, 518-441-2789. Hours: Fridays, 10 a.m.-noon. Emergencies: any time. Residency requirements: Taconic Hills School District, ID suggested. Volunteers needed: Yes. Donations: Yes, at IGA Market, 2628 Route 23, Hillsdale, or to P.O. Box 475, Hillsdale, NY 12529.
Pine Plains
Location: United Methodist Church, 3023 Church St., P.O. Box 511, Pine Plains 12567. Phone: 518-398-7692. Hours: Second Saturday of the month, 10 a.m.-noon. Residency requirements: Pine Plains Central School District, with proof of residency. Volunteers needed: No. Donations: Monetary, food and toiletries. For information, go to www.pineplainsepiscopal.org
Location: Willow Roots Food Pantry, 7730 South Main St. Hours: first and third Saturday of each month, 10-11 a.m. Thrift Store, same hours. The Giving Box at the Pine Plains Library has drinks, snacks and food items. Phone: 518-751-0164. Residency requirements: Pine Plains Central School District. Volunteers needed: Yes. Donations: Yes, send to office at 23 North Main St., or go to www.willowroots.org
Millbrook
Location: Food for Folks, Lyall Memorial Federated Church, 30 Maple Ave. Phone: Emergency Pantry, 845-242-6508 for an eligibility appointment. Meals on Wheels, 845-677-4235, leave a message. First Harvest Pantry, May through October, Tuesdays, 8-10 a.m., until supplies run out. Fresh produce from Stonewood Farm.
Dover
Location: Center of Compassion Food Pantry, 52 Mill St. Phone: 845-877-9076. Assistance available by appointment, Monday through Friday. Offers food items and household supplies. Volunteers needed: Yes. Donations needed: Yes. Supported by a grant from the Regional Food Bank of the Hudson Valley.
Lakeville, Connecticut
Location: Corner Food Pantry, 80 Sharon Road. Phone: 860-435-9886. Hours: Distribution is on Friday from 3 to 4:30 p.m., and on Saturday from 9 to 10 a.m. Residency requirements: No. Volunteers needed: Yes, from both New York and Connecticut. Go to www.thecornerfoodpantry.org/get-involved to donate or volunteer or call the pantry and leave a name and phone number. Regular drop-off for donations is Friday, 9-10 a.m., but there is a container in the garage.
The refrigeration van at Sun River Health offices in Amenia serves the community as part of the Dutchess County Mobile Food Pantry program.Leila Hawken
The Stone Round Barn at Hancock Shaker Village.
My husband Tom, our friend Jim Jasper and I spent the day at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. A cold, blustery wind shook the limbs of an ancient apple tree still clinging to golden fruit. Spitting sleet drove us inside for warmth, and the lusty smells of manure from the goats, sheep, pigs and chickens in the Stone Round Barn filled our senses. We traveled back in time down sparse hallways lined with endless peg racks. The winter light was slightly crooked through the panes of old glass. The quiet life of the Shakers is preserved simply.
Shakers referred to their farm as the City of Peace.Jennifer Almquist
Originally founded in England, the Shakers brought their communal religious society to the New World 250 years ago. They sought the perfection of heaven on earth through their values of equality and pacifism. They followed strict protocols of behavior and belief. They were celibate and never married, yet they loved singing and ecstatic dancing, or “shaking,” and often adopted orphans. To achieve their millennialist goal of transcendental rapture, we learned, even their bedclothes had to conform: One must sleep in a bed painted deep green with blue and white coverings.
Shakers believed in gender and racial equality and anointed their visionary founding leader, Mother Ann Lee, an illiterate yet wise woman, as the Second Coming. They embraced sustainability and created practical designs of great utility and beauty, such as the mail-order seed packet, the wood stove, the circular saw, the metal pen, the flat broom and wooden clothespins.
Jennifer Almquist
Blacksmith Peter Kergaravat at work.
Burning coal smelled acrid as the blacksmith fired up his stove to heat the metal rod he was transforming into a hook. Hammer on anvil is an ancient sound. My husband has blacksmithing skills and once made the strap hinges and thumb latches for a friend’s home.
Shaker chairs and rockers are still made today in the woodworker’s shop. They are well made and functional, with woven cloth or rush seats. In the communal living space, or Brick Dwelling, chairs hang from the Shaker pegs that run the length of the hallways, which once housed more than 100 Shakers.
A Shaker chair.Jennifer Almquist
In 1826, the 95-foot Round Stone Barn was built of limestone quarried from the land of the 3,000-acre Hancock Shaker Village. Its unique design allowed a continuous workflow. Fifty cows could stand in a circle facing one another and be fed more easily. Manure could be shoveled into a pit below and removed by wagon and there was more light and better ventilation.
Shakers called us the “people of the world” and referred to their farm as the City of Peace. We take lessons away with us, yearning somehow for their simplicity and close relationship to nature. One Shaker said, “There’s as much reverence in pulling an onion as there is in singing hallelujah.”
A sense of calm came over me as I looked across the fields to the hills in the distance. A woman like me once stood between these long rows of herbs — summer savory, sage, sweet marjoram and thyme — leaned on her shovel brushing her hair back from her eyes, watching gray snow clouds roll down the Berkshires.
More information at hancockshakervillage.org
The Shakers embraced practical designs of great utility and beauty.Jennifer Almquist
Exterior of Lakeville Books & Stationery in Great Barrington.
The second Lakeville Books & Stationery is slightly larger than the first store. It offers more than 10,000 books and follows the same model: a general-interest store with a curated mix of current bestsellers, children’s and young readers’ sections; and robust collections for adults ranging from arts and architecture, cooking and gardening, and home design to literature and memoirs. Anne reads more than 150 new titles every year (as many as a Booker Prize judge) and is a great resource to help customers find the perfect pick.
A real-time inventory system helps the store track what’s on hand, and staff can order items that aren’t currently available. There is also a selection of writing and paper goods, including notecards, journals, pens and notebooks, as well as art supplies, board games, jigsaw puzzles and more. The owners scour the stationery trade shows twice a year and, Darryl says, “like to tailor what we offer to suit the interest of our customers in each market.”
The Pecks know what it takes to run a successful local enterprise. Darryl has a 53-year background in retail and has launched several successful businesses. He and Anne owned and operated a bookstore on St. Simons Island, Georgia, from 2019 to 2025. They are tapping into their local roots with both stores. They raised their family in Sharon, and their daughter Alice, a native of the Northwest Corner, manages the Lakeville store.
Interior of Lakeville Books & Stationery.Provided
The family values the role that a retail store plays as a supporting partner in the community, and they prioritize great management in both locations, hiring and training talent from local communities. Their 10 team members across both stores are from the area, and two of the Great Barrington employees previously worked at Bookloft.
Darryl and Anne’s attention to customer service is everywhere apparent and adds to the enjoyable and irreplaceable in-store shopping experience. The books are in pristine condition, eliminating the risk of damage that sometimes occurs during shipping. This is especially important for books that will live on people’s shelves and coffee tables for years.
Darryl says, “People love the in-store discovery — you find books you didn’t know existed, which is very difficult to do on a website. Also, many customers depend on our recommendations when visiting. There is a saying about bookstores versus online ordering: We may not have exactly what you were looking for, but we have what you want.”
Lakeville Books & Stationery’s Great Barrington store is open 7 days a week, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parking is available in the lot behind the building and in the parking lot behind the firehouse. The entrance to the store is accessible from the store parking lot.
For more information, go to lakevillebooks.com., and sign-up for the Lakeville Books newsletter.
Richard Feiner and Annette Stover have worked and taught in the arts, communications, and philanthropy in Berlin, Paris, Tokyo and New York. Passionate supporters of the arts, they live in Salisbury and Greenwich Village.
