001Hello, I'm Yolanda Greavves, the host of Around the Clock News for Ashland, and we are here at the temporary location of the Ashlin Food Pantry. There's being work done at our community center, senior center, so that the food pantry there is much bigger and easier to access. But while that work happens, we're here at the Market Basket Plaza on Route 126 in Ashland with the temporary food pantry. So if you usually go to the community center, now you're going to be coming here to the Ashlin food pantry. It is at the Ashland Police substation in the corner here at the Market Basket Plaza. So let's go take a look and see what they've done at this temporary food pantry for Ashland. Um, >> we are now inside the temporary location of the Ashlin food pantry
002with Ushi, who is Ashlin food resource coordinator. Ushi, Yushi, sorry. Thank you for speaking with us. Uh, tell us what's going on with this temporary location and why we need it. >> Yeah. Um, well, the food pantry is actually being relocated and renovated within the community center. uh in order to kind of make the community center more efficient. >> And let's just remind people, so the rec center and the recck department is in the community center or senior center. A lot of times people will talk about the senior center. So up on 135 toward the end of Ashlin. So the basement. Yeah. >> Cuz not everyone has access or has need to have access to the food pantry. Yeah. >> So it's in the basement of the community center. And so now we're just shifting
003it from one side of the basement to the other side of the basement. >> Okay. What's the timeline of that process? >> It should be about 4 months. >> Okay. >> So, for 4 months, we packed everything up, moved it here to the police substation um that they are graciously us sharing with us and um we'll be operating here for 4 months. >> How have you communicated this information out to the people who are currently using the food pantry that they have to come to a new location? >> In several ways. Uh I sent a mass email to everyone. Uh the vast majority of people who access the food pantry use our online order forms. Okay. >> So I was able to email everyone that way and everyone who came to the food pantry to
004pick up whether they accessed it online or by phone I was in person letting them know. I also put up signage at the food pantry for anyone who might arrive and there'll be ongoing signage there to let people know who go there that we've moved here. >> Okay. with the temporary location. How is that changing if at all how you're getting food out to c to your customers or receiving donations? How what what is the change there? Um I would say receiving donations may be a little bit different because right now I do have the internal support of the community center staff. Um I'm actually only in the food pantry 20 hours a week. >> Okay. And in those 20 hours a week, it includes things like going to the Greater Boston Food Bank in
005order to bring in goods. So, um, having the support of other staff >> is important. Um, they're there >> more hours than I am and the community center is open more hours. >> Um, so people will be able to drop off donations here. >> Okay. >> When we're open, there'll be a donation box outside during the operating hours. And what will the operating hours be for the food pantry in your in this temporary location? >> They'll be the same. It'll be Mondays 9 to 1, Wednesdays 11 to 6, and Thursdays 9 to1. >> Okay. Wonderful. So that people So if you want to drop off a donation, you said Mondays 9:1, Wednesdays 11 to 6, and Thursdays 9:1. >> Yep. Or at the Ashland uh Shaws on Pawn Street. >> Okay. Yeah. They have a
006collection bin there, so that's nice. So as you're doing your shopping, you could just put stuff in there. Yep. And we have volunteers that regularly go to empty that bin and bring them into the >> So, you're only here 20 hours a week. >> So, you talked about your volunteers. How many volunteers are participating and helping out in support of the food pantry? I mean, we see a lot of them here today helping with the restocking and the creation of this temporary location. >> Yeah. >> Altogether, there are about 30 volunteers that volunteer for the food pantry at various times. People volunteer restocking our shelves. people volunteer um packing food orders and also delivering to the homebound. Um we have volunteers that do that as well. >> This is it's I'm I'm like watching and
007seeing all the activity. It's so cool to see this. Uh how does someone participate or partake of the Ashlin Food Pantry? What do they need to do to be able to come and I'm going to say shop here because they do do that. >> Yeah. Um, well, people shop online or over the phone from the for the food pantry, and they have to be a resident of Ashlin, Massachusetts. >> Um, if they're not, then I'm more than willing to give resources um for >> for their community. >> Um, but other than that, people give me a call and we do an intake. It's a very brief intake. Um, and I set them up either for the online ordering if they utilize online. Not everyone does. Um, but if not, people call me on the phone
008and let me know exactly what they want. >> And are there financial restrictions for people to be able to participate in the food pantry? Like, you know, can if someone say, I live in Ashland, I want to come use the food pantry. What restrictions, if any, are there for them to do that? >> There really are not. It's really on the honor system. You know, we live in a very expensive community >> and we understand that. And lots of times people are >> coming because an emergency came up or you know some people may need more ongoing help. So really it's a wide variety and a wide range. >> Um >> plus the way it's accessed either online and over the phone >> the opportunity to take advantage is actually pretty limited. I mean, >>
009in order to utilize the food pantry, >> for better or worse, it's our volunteers that are doing their bath to pack orders that they hope that the people who access will enjoy >> and I encourage people who are accessing it to be very detailed and >> about what their requests are. there um either on the online form there's space where they can either add to or give specific instructions or over the phone I really get to know a lot of people >> and they can give me specific instructions but there really isn't the opportunity to come in here and do traditional shopping >> right okay that's good to know and good for people to know >> good so uh one last question for you and then I think we'll chat with a couple of volunteers
010what is the one item that you would say you don't have that you would really love to have or more of what >> it there's a category. >> Okay. >> That's hygiene and cleaning supplies. Yeah. Those are items that are not covered under SNAP benefits. So >> Oh, okay. >> Um they're heavily requested items and if they're not donated, we have to purchase them. >> Um >> so hygiene, shampoo, conditioner, soap, body wash, >> Toilet paper. Toilet paper. Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. So those are, you know, those are the main categories. toilet paper, even things like paper towels. For a lot of families, those are luxuries. And um especially things like like you said, the shampoo, soap, conditioner, those affect the child's ability to go to school, whether they can have clean clothes and be
011clean, >> laundry detergent. >> Yeah. So, those are that's the category of things that we always hope for. >> Good. So, if you're looking to donate, think about those categories rather than the pastas and the cereals that a lot of people think about, but personal care items and cleaning items. Great. >> Thank you. >> Well, Yushi, thank you so much for chatting with us. Good luck on the move and the and the location here. And then I know we'll be very excited to share when you move back so people can see the updated location. I know I personally have been hearing from a lot of different volunteers that it had been very tight at the food pantry and even though it has sort of evolved over the years. I was thinking about a story we
012did probably five or six maybe even longer ago >> and I think the need has increased here in our town for the food pantry. >> Yeah. >> Would you say I mean you've been here for a couple years you've seen that. So >> I've seen it in just the last couple years. Yeah. the need has increased both for um new people coming into the food pantry and people who may have only needed it once in a great while when there was a >> um you know let's say Christmas time because expenses are higher >> are now needing to come more regularly. So kind of from both ends that need has increased. >> Okay. >> Well, thanks for chatting with us >> and we're going to go chat with some of your volunteers and keep up
013the good work. We really appreciate it. >> Oh, thank you. They're the best ones to chat with. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We are now speaking to one of the very many volunteers that are here helping with this temporary with this move for the food pantry to this temporary location. Bob, thanks for taking a few minutes to speak with us. How long have you lived in Ashland? >> Uh about 13 years. >> About 13 years. Uh how long have you been a volunteer here at the food pantry? >> Uh coming up on one year. >> On one year. What brought you to the food pantry as a volunteer? Well, I had retired and uh my wife said I can't sit around the couch all day, but you know, working in the
014corporate world for so long, um chance to give back and you know, feeding people is a great way to give back. >> Nice. Um how has the move been so far, the this temporary move to this this location? >> We're still partway through, so now we're trying to figure out where stuff needs to land for a while. Um but it, you know, the volunteers that have come in and stepped up really made a big difference. So, uh, you know, Doc, Dave and I have been working the working on the move and starting the packing since last week >> and then everybody came in on Wednesday for the big packing day. Got everything out and uh by the time I got here around 9:40 today, everything was almost all. So, >> it's been pretty smooth. >>
015Good. Good. Uh, have you gotten to know some of the other volunteers that you work with in this past year? >> Yes. >> And what has that been like for you? >> It's been very good. I um I call Doc the Ashland celebrity because I he always pops up at different things. We're at um the the poor chetta dinner that the Lions had last year, >> he was there. We saw each other from a couple tables over but didn't come say hi. >> Uh but you know, you start to see people around town. I see Yushi every once in a while at restaurants and stuff, too. >> Nice. Nice. What's your favorite thing about working in vol well in about volunteering for the food pantry? Like I said, you know, after four decades in corporate
016world, uh doing something that's good for people instead of somebody's bottom line, that Yeah, that's what I like. >> That's great. Well, Bob, thank you so much for taking a few minutes to chat with us and we'll let you go stock some more shelves. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> We're going to close out this segment by speaking with Katherine Bird. Katherine, thanks for chatting with us. Katherine is one of our two assistant town managers. Katherine, what's your official assistant town manager title? >> Yes. So, the full title is assistant town manager for administration and operations. >> Okay, so operations, we are in the temporary food pantry. Tell us a little bit about how this came about. So, when Beth and I first started back in May of 2025, uh we spent a little bit
017more time at the community center just in our new roles and capacity. spent a lot of time with the team, heard from residents, volunteers, and sort of started to see that maybe you we didn't have enough space, the space wasn't used as efficiently as it could be. Um, and so that's how this idea came about. So, um, part of that is moving the food pantry here temporarily so that we can sort of reorganize, refresh that space, uh, make it a little bit more efficient. Um, and so yeah, so that's how that's how it came about. >> Great. And how has the move gone? I mean, you're set you're in day two, I believe. >> Yes. Yes. Actually, the volunteers are amazing. We have the greatest group of volunteers here in Ashland. Um, they actually started
018a week or so ago, uh, packing everything up, making sure that, you know, all the food was labeled according to expiration date. Um, and then yesterday movers came, put everything in here, and then today people showed up and within two hours we were pretty much unpacked because of the amazing help of the volunteers and staff. That's great. That's great. So time frame, we were talking with Yushi and we got an update at the select board meeting. So you're expecting to be here till May or June. Yes. >> How are you going to keep the public informed of that timing as you go through this? >> Yes. So we have various means of communication. So we put flyers in orders. We have our information on every order form online. Um we have signage at both the
019community center and here. We'll make sure people know via social media platforms. We're also going to run a couple campaigns with our PD, which I'm not going to give away all the details. >> Okay. >> Um just to bring awareness that we're here and then we'll do, you know, everything sort of in reverse when we move back. >> Okay. The one thing is so this was this is the Ashlin substate police substation. So the police have used it and we know that people here in the plaza have really appreciated that. Will the police still have a presence here at the substation? >> Absolutely. And the police department, so thank you to them for sharing this space with us. they'll absolutely be able to utilize the space as needed. Um, and so really shouldn't interrupt any
020services as far as our PD goes. >> Great. Well, Katherine, thanks for chatting with us. Uh, congratulations on this move. And if you have questions about the food pantry, make sure you reach out to Yushi, who is the Ashlin food resources manager and or on the website is a good place to do that as well. And thanks for watching this segment of Around the Clock.