Bethel Food Pantry Reorganizes as Independent Community Enterprise

Written by Kip Betz

The Bethel Community Food Pantry announced it has reorganized as an independent, community-based enterprise.

The move is designed to allow the pantry, which has been in operation at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church since 1993, to attract broader support and take advantage of additional strategies including new availability of grant support to better serve its clients in Bethel.

Under the restructuring, a new Board of Directors has been installed and is led by Steve Deuschle, President of the Board. Additional officers and members are:

• Karen Cook, Vice President
• Christopher Kwong, Treasurer
• Mary Buzak, Secretary
• Bobbi Jo Beers, Representing the Bethel Chamber of Commerce
• Susan Pople, Liaison to St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church
• Leo Gallagher, Liaison to Brotherhood in Action
• John Esposito, Community Liaison
• Susan Budris, Bethel School District Liaison
• Michael Macchi, Town of Bethel Liaison
• Heidi Salcedo, Client Liaison
• Kip Betz, Communications Director

“The Bethel Community Food Pantry has been an essential resource for connecting good neighbors with good food for more than twenty years in the Bethel community,” President Deuschle said. “After the church’s outstanding twenty-two years of stewardship, this transition gives the pantry new tools and strategies to better serve Bethel’s clients and the community as a whole going forward.”

“The diversity of backgrounds on the BCFP board will allow us to look at issues from a broad range of perspectives and reach carefully considered, innovative solutions,” Mr. Deuschle added.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, the BCFP anticipates relaunching its website, issuing its first quarterly newsletter, and announcing the availability of additional ways to connect, provide support, and volunteer. Alternate venues are being considered as a means of increasing and enhancing pantry access.

About the Bethel Community Food Pantry

The BCFP was established in 1993 as the St. Thomas’ Food Pantry. Church leadership voted in 2014 to take the legal action necessary to restructure the pantry as an independent, community-based organization in order to achieve a broader base of support.

The pantry’s mission is to provide free food and hygiene items to Bethel residents in need with compassion and respect for clients’ dignity. The 100 percent volunteer-run BCFP is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that maintains good standing with the Connecticut Food Bank and is listed with the National 211-referral service.

For more information about the pantry, how to become a client, and how to connect, support, or volunteer, visit www.bethelcommunitypantry.org.