Lost and Found: Temple for the hungry

By Kasandra Brabaw

The Food Pantry at Temple Concord serves an average of 80 families a week, ranging in size from one to 14. The majority of the donations comes from the Food Bank of Central New York and is delivered every Wednesday. Some items are purchased by food pantry staff with monetary donations from the temple’s synagogue congregation and from the Syracuse community. Others—such as the bread, pastries and bagels offered—come from restaurants like Panera Bread and from local grocery stores.

Patrons of the pantry are given food based on a point system determined by the number of people in their family. They travel around a room, stopping at several different tables, which are broken up by food groups. At each table, they are offered a certain number of choices based on the number of points they have. The point system is meant to give each family enough groceries for a few days worth of meals.

The Food Pantry at Temple Concord is open from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. three Fridays of every month.