The City has found it to be a mighty tough move to get out of the food pantry business, as they announced this week that City-operated food pantries will continue on a three-day-a-week schedule until Nov. 13.
The pantries, which have operated since April, were supposed to conclude on Friday, Oct. 30. The plan is to replace them with the Chelsea Eats debit card, a food program for the neediest families to use at various supermarkets throughout the city, ending the need for them to wait in long lines during the cold months.
Launching that program has proved more difficult than expected due to logistical issues with procuring the card from Visa and other vendors.
That said, the pantries will scale back from five-days to three-days per week starting on Nov. 2.
The locations are as follows:
•Monday: Early Learning Center (at Hawthorne St. and Congress Ave.)
•Wednesday: Washington Park at Washington Ave. and Hancock St.
•Friday: Chelsea Square near 2nd Street continue to be distribution three days a week.
Food will not be distributed on Wednesday, November 11 due to the Veteran’s Day holiday.
Private food pantries, such as the Chelsea Collaborative, the Salvation Army and St. Luke’s, will continue to operate with help from the City. Those pantries keep their own schedules.