"Feeding People, Cultivating Opportunities"

The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf- it’s existence influences everyone in the greater Burlington area directly or indirectly. The Food Shelf reports that over one thousand households in Chittenden County receive assistance from their programs. Hundreds of people from the community volunteer time every year. Landlords are able to collect rent that might otherwise be needed for groceries, and Burlington, because of the Food Shelf, is able to keep more people off the streets. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf is not only an obvious display of compassion and hope in Burlington, Vermont, but more importantly a hub for a wide array of opportunity.

The soup kitchen, grocery distribution and summer lunch program reach families in need right here in our neighborhoods and fight the hunger beneath our noses we tend to ignore. With the economy as it is, the numbers of struggling citizens are constantly rising and more and more people are finding refuge at the Food Shelf. Some may argue that the Food Shelf offers a crutch and allows people to settle instead of working harder for their necessities. Some may argue that the system is abused, that those without immediate needs take advantage, and that is absolutely an issue. However, one cannot argue that the presence of the Food Shelf is not an asset to the community. Even if the services only helped ease the financial distress of one family in need, the effort would be worthy.

Just as significant as feeding families, the Food Shelf provides countless service opportunities. All types of people, from retirees to housewives to students on summer break, seek outlets for their service and the Food Shelf accommodates. One can help distribute groceries, either at the center itself or by delivery. One can help weigh and stock donations. One can cook in the soup kitchen. One can just talk to the clients. Extending service and staying busy is often an essential element of a person’s wellbeing and many of us without families to care for are not only open for opportunities but pursue them for our own happiness.

Many people also find in the Food Shelf an opportunity to get back on their feet, to become active and respected members of society. For those with a criminal background, those just out of correctional facilities, and those recovering from substance abuse, reintegrating into citizenry- finding a job and earning trust- can be virtually impossible. So few people with this kind of history are able to work their way back into a lawful livelihood and most are practically forced back to their old ways of dealing and stealing and such. The Food Shelf allows those with more unfortunate histories to complete their mandated community service, to build resumes, and to work and communicate with people from all sectors of the community for a undisputed positive cause. A significant hope lies in this benefit alone.

The most heartening benefit I have witnessed through my time at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf is the community that exists and is constantly growing. Everyone seems to know or get to know everyone. People in need of the services find friends in others who also need the services- they find commonalities even when separated by the boundaries of age, race, religion and language. Employees and volunteers get to know the clients by name and create lasting relationships. A senior citizen filling time in her schedule by working the bread line might meet and mentor a troubled teen who has dropped out of school and been kicked out of the house. People might start talking over their breakfast and find that they live on the same street and can carpool or walk together or watch each other‘s kids. Such connections are made at the Food Shelf every day and the center is undoubtedly responsible for strengthening specifically the Old North End and Burlington as a community.

Surveys and numbers speak for themselves but the untold stories in which the Food Shelf has a part are where the strength lies. Needs are met, stress is eased, people come together. That cannot be argued. The Food Shelf displays its motto on every sign, on every sticker on every donation jar in town- “feeding people, cultivating opportunities.” What could be better than that?

Turkeys For All!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and many of us are looking forward to a day of feast, family and fellowship. While most of us will spend the day stuffing (no pun intended) our faces, and napping off our gluttony, others will be truly thankful for having a meal at all. Some will go hungry. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf is on a mission to make sure no one in the Greater Burlington Area goes without a Thanksgiving turkey this year.

The Food Shelf, a program of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, serves not only Chittenden County but every person who walks in the door, regardless of what walk of life they have traveled. It is, however, no coincidence that the Food Shelf is located on 228 N. Winooski Avenue- in the heart of Burlington’s Old North End. Known in the area as the poorer part of town, the Old North End is by far the most culturally diverse neighborhood in Vermont, a microcosm. Abbreviated ONE, the neighborhood is a patchwork of people joined from all over the world, living together in one community

Burlington, over the years, has become a safe haven for immigrants and refugees, offering a wide variety of resources for newcomers. Edi Abeneto, the grocery distribution coordinator at the Food Shelf, claims that non-natives make up for 25% of their clientele Abeneto himself has a unique story- originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he has lived all over Africa and France and now speaks six languages. He has lived in Vermont for six years, five of which he has worked at the Food Shelf, first as a translator- “I was hired here as a translator because… the language barrier is a problem as you could imagine… At the Food Shelf I speak French, I speak Lingala, I speak Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi and English…” He said, “The most important part of my job is talking to the people, listening to the people, and finding out what they need.” All six languages still don’t cover the clientele or reach the growing population from Bhutan, Nepal and Vietnam.

Although the waves of people from different parts of the world gathering in Burlington show an obvious demand for assistance, hunger doesn’t discriminate. Abeneto claims that 75% of the people using the Food Shelf services are Vermonters. This may be a surprise to many, as Vermont often acts as a vacation home for retirees and is often misconceived by outsiders as a wealthy state. Steve Conley, born and raised in the greater Burlington area now resides in the Old North End and sometimes struggles with the necessities in this time of widespread economic hardship. Conley said, “It’s hard for anyone to find a job these days and especially hard for those of us with history. I work odd job to odd job and just pick up work wherever I can. The Food Shelf offers a sense of security for me. I get bread from the distribution center several times a week and groceries when I need them. I don’t always need the help, but I always know it’s there.”

The flagship program is the actual “food shelf” (open Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM) and offers groceries to any one or any family once a month. The homeless are eligible for groceries once every two weeks and the homeless living without shelter-those on the streets- can go through the line every week. The distribution center also offers bread and produce to anyone once every day, so even when the groceries run out, people still have the opportunity to hold themselves over with bread. The Food Shelf also offers a home bound delivery program for the elderly and others with mobility issues and disabilities.

In the summer, the center operates a Brown Bag Lunch Program that reaches out to low income children who receive financial assistance throughout the school year for lunch. Many of those children might otherwise spend their summers hungry.

The center’s Soup Kitchen Program serves a hot meal every Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 10:30 AM, Sunday morning 10:00 AM to noon and Sunday evening 4:30 to 7:00 PM. All meals are open to the general public. Both Sunday meals are made possible through support from the University of Vermont’s Food Salvage Program and Campus Kitchen Project. The food is donated from the UVM dining system and on Sunday morning students from the university volunteer to prepare the meal on-site.

Abeneto claims that, “Every month we serve about one thousand, two hundred households. With the economy we are steadily seeing more people coming in all the time, so we will have higher numbers next month than this month and probably even more the month after that.” Helping hands are crucial. Every program at the Food Shelf survives on the dedication of volunteers. Opportunities include working the distribution line, weighing and sorting food, stocking shelves, cooking, delivering and picking up donations. Abeneto says, “There is always something to do here at the Food Shelf.”

Seth Gorman, a student at Champlain College, says, “I was probably just sitting in the library when I decided that I wanted to do something to help people, so I searched for a place I could volunteer, to donate some of my time that I don’t spend doing anything else…I wanted to find a way to help people with basic essential needs and the Food Shelf has opportunities. I started right away.” Like Seth, I too sought an opportunity at the Food Shelf and spent three days every week there this past summer. I found that my service there was just as beneficial to my own well-being as to the needs of the community- that my life was enriched. With so much cultural and class diversity, the Food Shelf is a great place to meet and work with all types of people. Even volunteers range from retired upper-class citizens to college students to criminals. The Food Shelf is just as instrumental in rehabilitating people who have been in trouble with the law as it is with feeding the poor. Gorman states, “Many [volunteers] are court ordered to complete community service, but it seems a lot of those people choose to volunteer at the Food Shelf even after their requirements have been met.”

Although it is reliant on volunteers, the Food Shelf also has ways of giving back to those who lend a helping hand. Like many who are of service at the Food Shelf, after spending quite some time volunteering, Gorman was hired as a delivery driver. He routinely drives to Colchester to pick up donations from Costco and Shaw’s, and also down to Shelburne Road where he picks up donations from Hannaford and Price Chopper.

Donations, however, aren’t limited to big block grocery stores. Local restaurants also contribute but anyone can donate food at the distribution center- a significant amount of the donations are actually from families. This year the Food Shelf has a goal of 2700 turkey donations for Thanksgiving. Abeneto says, “…we hope that we will have enough donated that every family who needs one will get one. We will be open on the Saturday before Thanksgiving so that those who are working and cannot come during the week can also get a turkey.” Donors can either drop off turkeys at the N. Winooski Ave location or can donate money in person or through mail (ten dollars buys a turkey for four). Non-perishable food drives are happening all over the Burlington area-even here at Burlington College- some specifically requesting Thanksgiving-like food (cranberry sauce, stuffing, canned vegetables, etc.).

Gorman claims that so far this season, donations have exceeded previous years. He says, “There is a lot of awareness of poverty right now, especially with the Occupy Wall Street movement. I think these donations show a way that people are starting to take care of each other. People this year seem willing to give to the less fortunate even when they are struggling themselves.”

The Food Shelf will also serve a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, November 24^th that will be open to the community for fellowship. Many people in the area don’t have ovens to cook a turkey if they had one- they don’t have tables to eat from, or even homes to spend the day in. Even more people are without the most important part of Thanksgiving- family. The Food Shelf recognizes that hunger exceeds the needs of the stomach- that the holiday is a time when people’s hearts are hungry too.

This year folks in Chittenden County, and specifically the Old North End, should have something to truly be thankful for. For so many people, the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf is the heart that pumps the blood of their lives; it’s the heart of their community. Like the natives and pilgrims once joined together in celebration of a good harvest, people from Vermont, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Burundi, Congo, Bosnia, and the ends of the earth will join at 228 N. Winooski Avenue to give thanks for the community.

Upon Moving to Not-So-Rich, Not-So-White Vermont

Over the summer I filled a good bit of my time on North Winooski Avenue at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. While still in Southern Appalachia, a region characterized by poverty, I assumed that Vermont was populated by rich white folks and much of it is. However, I found upon moving here that the demographics of Burlington are complicated and there happen to be quite a few not-so-white, not-so-rich folks in the neighborhood. Last semester I took (part of) a field studies course with Sarah Yahm and learned more about Vermont than I wanted to know. I seriously had nightmares about eugenics, racism and gentrification.

The cost of living here is high. My friends down south live in nicer apartments for half the rent. Of course the economy is fucked and jobs are hard to come by everywhere, but the gap between the rich and the poor in this state is scary. The majority of the people I see on a day to day basis are just getting by. In order to keep myself from going absolutely bat-shit crazy I try to not get too involved in the history and politics of the problems and instead appreciate the small solutions. Mother Teresa said “you never know how far a simple smile will go,” so I smile a lot and sometimes work the bread line at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf.

By interviewing Edi Abeneto, the grocery distribution coordinator at the Food Shelf, I’m not exactly holding true to the fourth element of journalism, maintaining an independence from faction, but oh well. I have come to admire his work here in the Burlington area and have seen how popular he is over on N. Winooski Ave.


Josey: Explain a little about the services here at the Food Shelf.

Edi: Ok, so we have, lets say, three programs. We have the food pantry which is offered to families once a month, and every day people can come to get bread and produce. We have a soup kitchen so we serve hot meals every morning from 7:30 to 9:30. We have a home-bound delivery program that is offered to senior citizens and disabled people who are not able to make it to the Food Shelf.


Josey: So how long have you worked at the Food Shelf? What brought you here and how did you get involved in this kind of work?

Edi: Ok so I’ve been here at the Food Shelf for five years. I was hired here as a translator because a lot of refugees come through and the language barrier is a problem as you could imagine. So after translator, I became the distribution coordinator.


Josey: So which languages do you use here with clients?

Edi: At the Food Shelf I speak French, I speak Lingala, I speak Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi and English- so I speak six languages in total.
(I had him spell it out for me)


Josey: Where are you from originally?

Edi: Originally I am from the Republic of the Congo but I have lived all over Africa and in France, too. That is how I learned to speak six languages and coincidentally all of them come into use in Burlington. I have been in Vermont for six years.


Josey: What are the general demographics of the clients?

Edi: So most of the people are from Chittenden County, but we do have a lot of refugees, a lot of immigrants coming here. I can say about 75% of the people are Vermonters and the rest are immigrants.


Josey: And where are most of the immigrants who use the services here from?

Edi: Now most of them are from Bhutan and Nepal. We have people from Africa too and from all over the world.


Josey: How many people does the Food Shelf serve?

Edi: Every month we serve about one thousand, two hundred households. With the economy we are steadily seeing more people coming in all the time, so we will have higher numbers next month than this month and probably even more the month after that.


Josey: What do you think is the most important part of your job?

Edi: The most important part of my job is talking to the people, listening to the people, and finding out what they need and how we can improve our services. We’re not only involved in distributing food- we also offer services as referrals so we help people apply for food stamps and such.


Josey: On a day to day basis what can the citizens of Chittenden County do to help out?

Edi: Well we survive on volunteers and donations. There is a lot of work here to be done. We have opportunities for people from the neighborhood to drive, to sort out food, or work the lines in the grocery distribution. We have to weigh and keep track of all the donations. There is always something to do here at the Food Shelf.


Josey: Thanksgiving is coming up, a day of feast and fellowship. I know that the Food Shelf recognizes this as an important time for families. What can the community expect? How does the Food Shelf celebrate Thanksgiving?

Edi: A week before Thanksgiving we will start distributing turkeys and we hope that we will have enough donated that every family who needs one will get one. We will be open on the Saturday before Thanksgiving so that those who are working and cannot come during the week can also get a turkey. We’re going to serve dinner here, have a Thanksgiving party. We will have a very busy season and we encourage everyone to help out and to donate if possible. It’s important for our community.


Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf
228 North Winooski Ave
Burlington, VT 05401
(p) 802-658-7939 | (f) 802-860-3663


Edi Abeneto and the Food Shelf are both very important threads in the culturally interwoven Burlington area and more specifically the Old North End. Communication is key. These people are breaking down barriers and bridging gaps right here in our own neighborhood. They are "feeding people and cultivating opportunities." The opportunity the Food Shelf offers to those of us who aren’t hungry is arguably just as important. What I have found with my involvement is that giving up some of my time helps me just as much as it helps others, most likely more. Service is the best way I’ve found to escape my own wicked thoughts.

Watch Out World Wide Web!

To properly introduce myself I must first announce that this is my first experience with blogging and I’m not too happy about it. I could say that I don’t have the time or that I don’t care to share my boring thoughts but to address that journalism’s first obligation is to the truth I must admit that I have an inexplicable fear of such communication. I’m not a journalist but I am taking Civic Journalism with Rob Williams at Burlington College and am therefore beginning this blog. I have never had a MySpace or a facebook, I’m not reliable with email and two weeks ago I witnessed Rob’s world of Twitter and almost had a heart attack- so bear with me. The photo above is of me and my broken laptop.

My name is Josey Ellis and I’m from the mountains of North Carolina. In 2009 I fell in love with Vermont on a southbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail and moved to the Old North End in the summer of 2010. I study documentary at Burlington College but this is not my first go at a career pathway (I have studied at Penland School of Crafts and at UNC Asheville and even at the JY Monk Real Estate Training Center). I work at a boutique on Church Street but spend more time at Uncommon Grounds with my yerba mate than I do at work. I have no idea what I want to do with my life and it shows.