Overview:

The Athol Area YMCA food pantry is expanding its downtown location to better serve the community's needs. The pantry, which opened in December 2025, currently distributes 450-500 pounds of food per month to around 120 families. The new space will provide 1,000-1,100 square feet of space for food storage and patrons. The pantry has received a boost from Whipps, Inc., which has pledged $1,000 per month towards the rent of the new space.

Food storage space at the Athol Area YMCA’s food pantry, located at the Community Center. The pantry currently uses a space around 400 square feet, but will soon expand to a space over twice as big. GREG VINE / For the Athol Daily News

ATHOL – The Athol Area YMCA food pantry is in the process of expanding its downtown location to better meet the needs of those seeking assistance.

Laurie Saisa, the YMCA’s anti-hunger program director, said the food pantry opened in December 2025.

Saisa runs the pre-school and programs for school-age children, as well as after-school and summer activities, and said those have provided her a first-hand look at the socioeconomic challenges in the community. She said the need to address food insecurity became obvious after the YMCA started sending surplus food items from its summer lunch program home to those in need.

“After the summer program ended, people started asking if there was more we might be able to do to help out,” she said. “So, we helped a handful of people in October and November, but then we had about 30 families show up in December. That’s when it really took off.”

“We want it to be more like a market. We want people to feel comfortable and safe.”

Laurie Saisa

Saisa said the food pantry, which is run out of the Y’s Community Center at 486 Main St., currently gives out 450 to 500 pounds of food a month.

“If you look at what we have enrolled, we have about 120 families. There’s quite a big need,” she said. “My biggest fear is that we’ll run out of food. If we get a grant, it’s usually for equipment, it’s not necessarily for the food part of it. Hannaford has been great about stepping up and helping with the food.”

To facilitate the growing demand, the Y has rented out an empty storefront next to the community center, which it hopes to turn into something more akin to a grocery store or market.

Saisa estimated that the space available for the food pantry in the community center at less than 400 square feet. The new property will give the pantry somewhere between 1,000 and 1,100 square feet, which will accommodate both food storage and space for patrons.

“We want it to be more like a market,” she said. “We want people to feel comfortable and safe. Some people put in requests for the things they want. But we’re in the process of getting into the Worcester County Food Bank, so we can get more food coming this way.”

Saisa said the YMCA food pantry has seen an influx of families who live in and around downtown Athol, many of whom can’t get to the food pantry at Athol High School, due to transportation issues.

“We have seen a lot of people from this (downtown Athol) are on our intake forms,” she said. “We have a bus stop right in front of the Y, so that’s been a big part of it. The high school food pantry is out behind the high school, and that’s kind of a walk for some people.”

The YMCA food pantry recently got a boost from Whipps, Inc. located at 370 South Athol Road. Whipps President Rich Adams said the George and Pauline Charitable Fund, which is named after the founders of the company, has pledged $1,000 a month to the food pantry, which will go toward the rent of the neighboring space.

“I’ve noticed a need to address food insecurity for a long time,” said Adams. “This just fits our mission.”

Adams added, “This will be a recurring check the goes to the Athol Area YMCA monthly, and if they need further assistance, we’ll be there for them.”

He noted the trust also donates $10,000 a month to the Salvation Army for food and heat insecurity, also from the charitable fund, “and we’ve also donated $8,000 in the last year to Athol High School (food pantry). It just seems that this mission is really underfunded. This is just the kind of thing we want to fund. We don’t want people to go hungry.”

Saisa said she hopes the new space will be fully renovated and stocked by sometime in July.

Athol Area YMCA CEO Jim Scherer said he was an immediate supporter of the food pantry and appreciates the way it’s being run.

“Laurie and the staff know and respect the people coming in here and they treat them that way,” he said. “It’s not the kind of place where people pull up, pop their trunk open, get a bag of food dropped….This is a perfect example of what the Y is all about. The mission is healthy living, social responsibility, youth development, relationships. Where there’s a void, we rush in.”

Shearer said the vote of the YMCA’s board of directors to move ahead with the food pantry was unanimous. He credited Saisa, Adams and grants administrator Seth Kelly for bringing the project to fruition.

The YMCA food pantry is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.