More than four decades ago, Maria Manus Painchaud’s father organized fewer than 100 holiday baskets for hungry families in Concord during the holidays.
Last week, she watched volunteers fan out to rows of boxes with cans of peas and corn. In its 42nd year, the Capital Region Food Program will distribute two packages of food to more than 2,450 families in Concord and its surrounding towns.
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Volunteers close up the 2,450 food basket packages for distribution for today at the State Armory in Concord Monday afternoon. In its 42nd year, the Capital Region Food Program will distribute two packages of food each to more than 2,450 families in Concord and its surrounding towns. (GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff)
For her father, who died in 1989, Manus Painchaud said the sight would be “bittersweet.”
“He was always an advocate of alleviating hunger completely,” she said. “The fact that this project has grown to 2,500 families would break his heart.”
But he would be happy to see more than 1,000 volunteers rally around the cause, she said.
“It’s a testament to how resilient a community can be,” she said.
Since its inception in the 1970s, the Capital Region Food Program has grown to a year-round effort. Manus Painchaud is now the chairwoman of the annual Holiday Food Basket Project. For 10 days at the end of every December, volunteers assemble and distribute enough food to tide families over for one to two weeks.
On Friday, Manus Painchaud darted between volunteers, signaling a thumbs up to one and hugging another, wearing a festive combination of bright-green pants and a red plaid shirt. Her 25-year-old son, Mark, has grown up stocking these boxes.
“For me, it’s not the holidays without this project,” he said.
More than three decades ago, in the early years of the food basket project, Manus Painchaud’s father called up his friend Chris Pappas.
“He said he needed some help unloading some trucks,” Pappas remembered. He’s been unloading trucks of donations and loading the holiday packages every year since.
Lee Lajoie can’t even remember when he first got involved. But in years past, he’s showed up to volunteer even with feet of snow outside.
“There’s no paid staff,” he said. “One hundred percent of the donations go to the program.”
Mary Jane Ricker of Chichester took the day off work to help out.
“This is helping your friends and your neighbors,” she said.
Distribution will take place in the days before Christmas. But the work isn’t over when all the boxes are shipped to their respective families. As soon as the holiday is over, volunteers reconvene to distribute leftovers to area food pantries and soup kitchens. And throughout the rest of the year, Manus Painchaud said the nonprofit fills monthly orders to stock the shelves at those organizations.
In total, the program has distributed more than $4 million worth of food over the years, carrying on Manus Painchaud’s father’s initial goal.
“Hunger isn’t a holiday problem only,” she said. “There’s a year-round need.”
For more information, visit capitalregionfoodprogram.org.
(Megan Doyle can be reached at 369-3321, mdoyle@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @megan_e_doyle.)
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