Generosity happens at the Camden Area Christian Food Pantry all year round, but abounds this time of year as people show thankfulness by sharing their bounty with others. In the last few weeks the pantry has gratefully received donations from several food drives.

For the third time in two years, the mysterious Otto the Cat has come forward with a challenge to benefit Camden Area Christian Food Pantry (CACFP).

The Otto Challenge funds will be used to purchase Hannaford Gift Cards which in turn will be given to those in need.

Camden Area Christian Food Pantry Board of Directors sponsored a thank you luncheon for the volunteers who serve the families that come to our pantry each week.

The Pantry was very fortunate to receive a bountiful donation of nonperishable foods as the result of the school's annual Spirit Week food drive challenge. This year's effort netted the largest amount of food that they have ever received according to Gretchen Kuhn, CRMS school nurse, who organized the event.

The Camden Area Christian Food Pantry (CACFP) has completed its second "OTTO" Challenge. A very generous anonymous donor contacted the pantry last summer and challenged the CACFP Board to match their $2500 donation to be used to buy Hannaford food cards to give to our families.

This initial challenge was met and forty-five families were given Hannaford cards during the month of October. Our benefactor offered a second challenge during the holiday season, this time raising their seed money even higher.

Again, the challenge was met and seventy-six families received cards during the months of January and February.

On February 13, Camden Area Christian Food Pantry hosted the distribution of USDA ”Farmers to Families” food boxes.

Any family wishing to have one was provided a box of food filled with fresh produce, cheeses, meat, and a gallon of milk. We had almost 60 families come to receive this wonderful offering.

Board members and Tuesday morning volunteers, Faith Vautour and Debra Milliken, hold bags sewn by two local Girl Scouts working on a special project to promote recycling. These bags were handed out to all our clients at Christmas time. The bags were very gratefully received.

CACFP was the lucky recipient of yet another generous donation from the West Bay Rotary. This was part of a raffle they held to raise monies to help local nonprofits. Accepting the check from mascot, Lucky the Duck, and Rotary member, Ray Fink, is CACFP Board member Debra Milliken. The food pantry is most appreciative of their continued support.