From the front page of the Lakeville Journal
Angel Foods co-op: Enthusiastic shoppers
By KAREN BARTOMIOLI
January, 29, 2009
SHEFFIELD — They come with boxes, bags, even laundry baskets, and with smiles on their faces. Minutes later, they are out the door with a week or more’s worth of high-quality groceries for a fraction of supermarket prices. As a bonus, a smiling teenager is always available to wheel groceries out and load them into cars.
This is Angel Food Ministries and one of its newest distribution centers is at Greenwoods Community Church on Clayton Road in this Massachusetts border town.
If it sounds too good to be true, organizers will agree, and quickly tell you it is the exception.
“We have yet to discover a downside,” said Chuck Lewis, a Falls Village resident and a church member. He heads a contingent of more than 30 volunteers who work on the monthly ordering and distribution.
“The first Sunday I pitched the idea, 33 people signed up,” Lewis said. “That was about half of the people who were there that day.”
Enthusiasm has not flagged. By word of mouth, news of the program is spreading fast. Volunteers say they are thrilled with the ease and savings of the program, and look forward to seeing more new faces each month.
It needs to be said up front that this is not a program based on need. But it did start out that way.
It began in Georgia in 1994, when a group of financially strapped local families formed a cooperative buying program. It is now operating as a non-profit across the nation, serving more than 500,000 families and growing each month. The food is top quality. The price is undercut through the simple approach of bulk buying, literally by the truckload, and relying mainly on volunteers to run the program.
The Greenwoods program started in October with 37 orders. In November, it jumped to 114, and to 128 in December. It was down to 80 this month, but word is still getting around.
Initially, volunteers had to drive a couple of hours to pick up food. But four churches working together in Torrington as distributors helped increase volume for this area enough to fill a truck that came to Waterbury in December.
“If Torrington gets 400 orders, and it looks like they will do it maybe for next month, we can get a truck right into Torrington,” Lewis said. “Our goal is to grow so big a truck will pull right into our church parking lot.”
Often, more time is spent socializing than shopping. Greenwoods puts out coffee and pastries. Monica Conlogue and her daughter, Becca, coordinate ordering, and talk up the program, saying they especially enjoy meeting and greeting everyone who comes in.
Patsy Garcia and Bob Zipkin of North Canaan arrived last week to collect their first order. They got the required $30 “regular box.” It contains a week’s worth of food to feed four, and is valued at about $70. They also picked up one of the month’s specials, this one a fresh fruit and veggie box. It contains more than 15 pounds of produce for $21.
“We looked at it carefully, to see how it would work,” Garcia said. “We’ll see how it goes. It’s very exciting.”
“There are some foods included that we wouldn’t normally eat,” Zipkin added. “But there’s nothing out of the ordinary, and we figured this would be a good chance to try them.”
Where did they here about it? From Beth Miller, also of North Canaan, who walked in a few minutes later.
She’s been participating since October and can’t say enough good things.
“The produce box alone is worth coming for. Everything is so fresh. It’s better than the grocery store,” she said.
Be warned. There is math involved. But it’s simply a matter of figuring out family needs. A box that comes with four steaks, for example, may not do for a family of five. But there is no limit to the number of boxes that can be purchased in a month. Some people toss the food in the freezer and make a meal when they have enough of a particular item. Likewise, smaller families can store extras for later use.
Fresh meat is vacuum sealed, usually in individual portions, and flash frozen on trucks during shipment.
“It hasn’t been sitting in a freezer somewhere,” Lewis said, “so you can keep it in your own freezer for awhile.”
There are also senior meals, packaged much like TV dinners. A box of 10 nutritionally balanced meals is $28. Volunteer Jeryl Martin loves them. In fact, she’s found she can make two meals out of one.
“I get the senior box and a special box, and my food bill is only about $50 for the month.”
The senior meals have gotten some complaints, Lewis said, and the vendor who prepares those has been changed, effective with the February shipment. Lewis said as far as he knows the issues were simply with personal taste, something that they’ll never be able to completely rectify.
“If you don’t like the senior meals, or you have dietary restrictions, you can buy the regular box and still make good, easy meals for yourself,” Martin said. “You can thaw portions out as you need them.”
More information about the program, including the next month’s menu, is available at angelfoodministries.com.
Ordering may be done at the Web site with a debit or credit card, at the church on order pickup day, on Sundays between noon and 12:30 p.m. at the church, or by mail.
The deadline for the February delivery is Feb. 14 for mailed orders, and Feb 15 for orders placed online or at the church. Payment is taken in advance; by cash or money order when made in person, and by money order when mailed to Greenwoods Community Church, 355 Clayton Road, Ashley Falls, MA 01222.
Located In The Beautiful Township of Ashley Falls Massachusetts