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Pantry COntinuED frOm PAGE 9 Cape Cod Ski Club and also serves on two Cape Cod Foundation review committees: grants and scholarships. Don sees his involvement with nonprofits as a way to give back. He’s not the only one who feels that way. One of the founders of the Family Pantry was Mary Anderson’s father, George Morris, who served as president of the board for 10 years. George was a construction manager for Verizon before he retired and moved to the Cape some 30 years ago. Mary worked for Verizon also, as a construction director. “My father jokes,” says Mary, “that he retired before he wound up working for me.” George, now 85, continues to serve on the pantry board and manages the cavernous12,000-squarefoot warehouse. He is currently at home recuperating from heart surgery, but remains active. “Believe me,” says Mary, “he is still directing me from his chair in the living room.” The pantry receives 40 percent of its food from the USDA-backed Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) and the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Plan (MEFAP). The pantry warehouse serves as the major drop-off point for the Cape. Other pantries come here to pick up their allotments. Walking past the floor-to-ceiling pallets of food and non-perishable goods that have been delivered, one is struck by the amount of work required to keep the donations organized and the pantry shelves stocked. “We have a forklift and several volunteers are trained to use it,” says Mary, “and we just added a part-time warehouse supervisor, Bill Baldwin.” There are mostly seniors, busy opening crates and stocking shelves. Mary smiles, “Most of our regular volunteers are in the 60-and-older demographic.” That includes Mary. Retired in 2000, Mary was working part-time in a second career when the job of ❝ Most of our regular volunteers are in the 60-and-older demographic. MARY ANDERSON, ExECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE FAMIlY PANTRY, HARWICH executive director opened. A volunteer at the pantry who knew Mary suggested she apply. “You would be very good,” she prophesied. Mary interviewed and in 2005 got the position. “So I followed my dad twice,” Mary says, referring to her career with Verizon, then her move to the Cape to take the pantry job. Speaking of her father’s legacy, Mary points out that his energy, sense of humor and knack for working with everyone from kids to seniors is what helped the pantry grow over the past 22 years. On this busy Tuesday morning, minutes before the pantry opens to clients, volunteers occupy three of the four desks in Mary’s small office. It is obvious that Mary has inherited George’s skill for working with people. The pantry has more than 230 volunteers who work regular weekly hours, and another 100 who volunteer on a random basis. Organizations that volunteer include University of Massachusetts, Harwich High School and Cape Cod Regional Technical School alumni association, the Post Office, and the Irving Mobil in Dennisport, which, along with the Harwich and Dennis transfer stations, provides a drop-off point for recycling cans and bottles – a $30,000 annual revenue stream for the pantry. Unlike most charitable organizations, the 80/20 rule (80 percent of funds come from 20 percent of donors) does not apply here. The largest portion of financial support (48 percent) comes from individual donations, another testament to Mary’s ability to work with a wide range of people. Other sources of income are grants, the thrift shop, events and sales of grocery store gift cards. An astonishing 900 individuals are served by the pantry every week. Most families have already qualified for a government assistance program such as food stamps or WIC. If they are new, there is a confidential interview and the pantry uses the Federal poverty guidelines for qualifying clients (approximate annual income is $19,000 for a single, PRIMETIMECAPECOD.com 17 $40,000 for a family of four). The pantry staff also helps the clients apply for food stamps and directs them to other food programs in their area when appropriate. Instead of prebagging groceries, as smaller pantries do, Mary points out that the pantry is able to offer a choice to clients. In addition to packaged foods and fresh produce, Mary opens a large refrigerator/freezer to show an abundance of cheese, eggs and frozen meats. Added to the food delivered by the GBFB, 25 percent is donated by individuals, stores or food drives. The remaining 35 percent is purchased with pantry funds by Mary, her father or one of the other volunteer shoppers. “We call one of our volunteers the Jelly Man,” says Mary. “Ted and Clare Monac find items on sale and purchase them on our behalf, like cases of jelly for 99 cents a jar.” The paid staff is small, says Mary. “We have tried to keep to the (founders’) three guiding principals: to be open to anyone, donations of money would be used to buy food and we would be all volunteerbased. We have been able to remain true to the first two, but in 2004, we created the paid executive director position and in 2010 we added two part-time staff.” Mary enjoys the flexibility of her job, but says it consumes her every waking hour. In addition to her position with the pantry, Mary, along with the director of the Falmouth Food Bank, co-chairs the Cape Cod Hunger Network, an informal coalition of feeding programs on the Cape. Asked about hobbies, Mary lists quilting, mah-jongg, reading and traveling. She and her husband, Bob, who retired from a career in information technology and now operates a handyman business in Harwich, enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise last year and are planning one to Alaska this fall. Mary is also looking forward to a girlfriends’ getaway to Charleston and Savannah. Her overriding interest, like her father’s, is her family, her son and daughter, 31 and 34 respectively, and her grandsons. Her brother has two grandchildren also, making George a great-grandfather to four boys. “He’s working on a baseball team,” Mary laughs. Or maybe the next generation of Family Pantry directors.
18 MAY 2011 PRIMETIMECAPECOD.com 19 BETTYANN LAURIA She ran her way to a halfmarathon debut at age 60. About the author Kathy Salzberg is an award-winning writer, pet groomer and business owner who retired to the Cape in 2005. She has written many articles on pets for national magazines, authored three books and co-written a fourth. She is the resident grooming expert on www.thedogchannel.com. One of her stories was recently selected for Chicken Soup for the Soul’s “Loving Our Dogs- Our 101 Best Stories.” A widow with three grown children and five grandchildren, Kathy is a member of Nauset Newcomers where she has made many new friends and met her new life partner, artist/designer Lee Ackerman. They share their Eastham home with a tabby cat with serious control issues. By Kathy SalzBerg Love ’em or hate ’em, those milestone birthdays do tend to get our attention, but BettyAnn Lauria of Yarmouthport marked her 60th with a rousing statement about youthful vigor and vitality by running her first half-marathon. A longtime language arts teacher at the Mattacheese Middle School in West Yarmouth, she started running a dozen years ago, completing several 5Ks, 10Ks and the 7-plusmile Falmouth Road Race, but the 13.1-mile half-marathon on Feb. 28 she signed up for would more than double those previous accomplishments. Part of the Hyannis Marathon, which includes a 26.2-mile marathon, the half-marathon, a 10K-race and a marathon team relay, this increasingly popular event drew thousands to Hyannis, signing up 5,500 entrants. To BettyAnn, this was the big leagues. Nantucket residents for seven years, she and her husband, Tom, moved to Yarmouthport 17 years ago after Betty had been laid off from her teaching post there. The couple met and married 28 years ago in Westchester COnTinuED On PAGE 19 ChriStine hoChKeppel/Cape Cod timeS BettyAnn Lauria of Yarmouthport ties up her trusty Mizuno Wave Rider sneakers for a midweek run. She recently ran her first half-marathon. COnTinuED FROM PAGE 18 County, N.Y. Tom is a renowned craftsman who builds model ships. A member and officer of the USS Constitution Model Shipwrights Guild that meets in the shadow of Old Ironsides in Boston, his models have been displayed in several museums, including the Cape Cod Maritime Museum in Hyannis. Their son, Austin, is a computer professional who lives off-Cape. Betty was drawn to running when she read about a group for beginners being started by Kevin Petrovek, the owner of Hanlon’s Shoe Store in Hyannis. “I had always thought that if you couldn’t go out there and run a mile then you couldn’t do it, but his whole program was about starting slowly. In the first week we did 30 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking and we would practice that for a half hour, increasing it every week. We started in May and by the end of June were ready to do a 5K.” A diminutive brunette, her deep brown eyes sparkle as she recalls that first triumph. “That was our graduation from the class.” “It really changed my life because I hadn’t really been doing much exercise,” she recalls. In her school days, she had played field hockey and still loved playing tennis. “But you get to that point where you get too busy and stop doing those things.” Gradually, her stamina and endurance increased and she was able to do five miles, her signal to enter a couple of 5-mile races, then a 10K and the hugely popular Falmouth Road Race. “I did that one for a friend of mine whose daughter had passed away. A bunch of us were running in her honor.” She delights in the legend that goes along with that event, as much a part of Cape Cod tradition as cookouts, clambakes and Fourth of July fireworks. Launched in 1972 by Tommy Leonard, an avid runner and popular bartender in Boston and Falmouth, it was first held on his birthday. It’s seven miles because that was the distance from Captain Kidd’s Tavern in Woods Hole to the Brothers Four in Falmouth Heights where he tended bar. Over the years, its winners have included such worldclass greats as Alberto Salazar, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter. Betty started training for the half-mara- ❝ I had always thought that if you couldn’t go out there and run a mile then you couldn’t do it, but his whole program was about starting slowly. BETTYANN LAURIA, RUNNER Quickhits WebLinks Cultural Center of Cape Cod Run/ Walk for the Arts www.cultural-center.org/ roadraceflyer10.pdf Falmouth Road Race www.falmouthroadrace.com Hyannis Marathon www.hyannismarathon.com Thomas J. Lauria’s Model Ships www.tjlauria.com thon last fall. “I had two friends that I sort of roped into doing it with me,” she laughs. “In the back of my mind I was thinking about my 60th birthday coming up in March.” By then, Betty had been doing 40-minute runs three times midweek with 5-mile runs on Saturday. Once they got that weekend outing to 10 miles, it was time to tackle the actual race route, a scenic course along Craigsville and Kalmus beaches, Hyannis harbor, Lewis Bay, the John F. Kennedy Memorial and Family Compound, Officer Michael Aselton Memorial Park and the villages of Hyannisport and Centerville. Famously picturesque in warm weather, the coastal Cape Cod climate could be harsh in winter and though she did most of her running outdoors to prepare for it, one Sunday practice run on the race course itself caused serious misgivings. She knew her usual routes by heart, both in Yarmouthport and Dennis where fellow runner and close friend Pat Mahoney lives, but this unfamiliar terrain was treacherous due to ice underfoot. “We’re never going to get through this,” she recalls thinking that day. But her perseverance paid off. Race day, the 31st anniversary of the event, produced pleaSe See LauRIa, page 20
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