What people need most now — and how to help
Sara Ceaser, Director of Volunteer and Community Engagement for United Way of Greater Nashua.
What have you noticed about the community’s needs right now and over the last year?
More people have been contacting us needing assistance this year, and the number of families that we’re serving has definitely increased. … Winter coats are a consistent need, but we have definitely had more people asking about coats than in previous years. … I feel like the donations we’ve been receiving at the food drives have been a little slimmer this year, which could be because of the cost of groceries.
What items can people give?
Right now, during the winter season, there’s a need for coats and boots and hats and gloves. People can donate those to the Salvation Army, because a lot of organizations direct their clients to the Salvation Army to pick up warm clothing if they need. Those can be new, or used items are always welcome if they’re still in good condition.
Food is always needed. United Way of Greater Nashua does weekly food drives at various stores around the greater Nashua area. We usually announce where those will be on our Facebook page. Food can be donated directly at our food drives, at our local Hannaford stores or to food pantries around the area,like the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, Corpus Christi Food Pantry, the Tolles Street Mission, the Southern New Hampshire Rescue Mission, SHARE Outreach, and there are various food pantries at churches, as well. They’re mostly looking for non-perishable items, like pasta, rice, pasta sauce, canned meats, canned beans, that type of thing.
The Santa Fund collects gifts for children, teenagers and children. They’re collecting new items — toys and gifts that people purchase — which are donated to organizations like The Front Door Agency, the Salvation Army and SHARE Outreach, and those organizations distribute the holiday gifts to children. A lot of things are donated for younger kids, but not a lot of things that are appropriate for older kids, so when people are making donations of physical items, they should definitely keep the older kids in mind. Gifts cards are excellent for teens, as well. Those items can be dropped off at the United Way of Greater Nashua, and there’s also a drop-off location beside Trader Joe’s in Nashua on the Daniel Webster Highway.
We’re always collecting school supplies donations for teachers to use in their classrooms. That’s a project we’ve been doing quite a bit over the past couple of years, and we have a school supplies pantry in our lower level that teachers and other educators can access. With it being the middle of the year, supplies are running a little bit low right now, so we would love some donations.
If people have leftover women’s hygiene products, we do accept those, as well. We donate those to schools, and we have a women’s hygiene supply pantry at Girls Inc. that the public can access.
There’s also been a need for bus passes; the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter collects donations of those.
Any local organization that’s close to your heart would love a donation of physical items, but if you’re not sure what they need, you should call to find out if there’s something specific that they need.
What can monetary gifts be used for?
For this time of year, I would definitely recommend the Santa Fund. They’re accepting cash donations to use to purchase other gifts [in addition to] the physical gifts that are donated.
United Way also has a lot of different projects that we can accept donations for. … One of our projects is a pop-up pantry where we provide fresh fruits and vegetables to people around the community in a different location each day.
Food pantries always accept cash donations to buy food and sometimes other items, like personal hygiene items, and for operational costs. Some of these places also run shelters and provide other services to their clients, like assisting them with finding jobs and finding other resources in the community to help them with housing and that type of thing, so cash donations could help with that, as well.
Where are volunteers needed most?
Winter is a great time to start volunteering and continue volunteering. A lot of our food pantries are looking for volunteers, and United Way of Greater Nashua is looking for volunteers for our food drives. We’re specifically holding food drives the day before Christmas and the day before New Year’s, and we would love to have some volunteers for those. They would basically be sitting at a table outside a store and encouraging shoppers to purchase extra items and passing out fliers to shoppers with suggested items.
We’re also looking for volunteer tutors to do elementary-age tutoring.
How can people find the right volunteering opportunity?
If people are interested in volunteering and don’t know where to volunteer, they should think about if they have specific skills, and if they don’t see a call for that specific skill, they should ask local nonprofits. Having a conversation and telling them what your skills and interests are is really the best way to find your place as a volunteer.
Area food pantries
• Corpus Christi Food Pantry
3 Crown St., Nashua, 882-6372, corpuschristifoodpantry.org
• Families in Transition Food Pantry
176 Lake Ave., Manchester, 641-9441, fitnh.org/services/food-programs
• Goffstown Network Food Pantry
7 N. Mast Road, Goffstown, 497-3433, goffstownnetwork.org
• Hooksett Community Food Pantry
35 Main St., Hooksett, 485-7222, hooksettkiwanis.org
• Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter
2 Quincy St., Nashua, 889-7770, nsks.org
• Sacred Heart Food Pantry
247 S. Main St., Manchester, 668-4004, sacredheartchurch-nh.com
• SHARE Outreach
1 Columbus Ave., Milford, 673-9898, sharenh.org
• Shepherd’s Pantry
1 Church St., Windham, 432-2150, shepherdspantry.net
• Southern NH Rescue Mission
40 Chestnut St., Nashua, 889-3421, hope4nashua.org
• Tolles St. Mission Food Pantry
52 Whitney St., Nashua, 880-4984, thetollesstreetmission.org
• The Upper Room Food Pantry
36 Tsienneto Road, Derry, 437-8477, urteachers.org
• NH Food Bank distributes food to more than 400 partner agencies across the state. Visit nhfoodbank.org/find-food/food-map to find more local organizations accepting food donations.
Featured photo: Sara Ceaser. Courtesy photo.
