Senator Fred Akshar to visit Catholic Charities in Nichols

Catholic Charities of Tompkins / Tioga will host State Senator Fred Akshar on Monday, Nov. 20, for a visit to two food distribution programs serving Tioga County residents in need. 

At 9:30 a.m., Senator Akshar is scheduled to visit the Catholic Charities’ food pantry, located in the agency’s Tioga County office at 139 Roki Blvd. in Nichols. He will assist Catholic Charities staff and volunteers in distributing annual Thanksgiving baskets with turkeys and trimmings. The agency hopes to provide nearly 70 such meals to families in need.

After touring the agency office, the senator will travel down the road to the site of a mobile food pantry at approximately 10 a.m. Catholic Charities sponsors these events every other month and recruits the volunteers who distribute the food, which is provided by another Catholic Charities organization, the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. The mobile pantry truck will be stationed in the parking lot of the old creamery, located at 263 West River Rd. in Nichols. (The widely known landmark green building now houses Nichols Family Fitness.) Volunteers will be distributing food at that site from 10 to 11 a.m.

Tioga Outreach Center Director, Laurie Ellis, explained, “Our food pantry located at our Nichols office is the only one in Tioga County that serves people from anywhere in the County. Our clients are often low wage workers or people with disabilities, or elderly folks on fixed incomes, struggling to make ends meet. All year around, we provide dry goods, fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy products. The annual Thanksgiving baskets are an additional help to make the holiday more festive for families.”  

Ellis continued, “The mobile food pantry that we sponsor provides additional food and personal needs products, ranging from yogurt to lettuce to spices. We are honored that Senator Akshar is visiting these programs and hope he will learn from our clients about their challenges and how state government could better help to ease the burden of poverty.”

Along with the food programs, the Nichols office of Catholic Charities of Tompkins / Tioga provides programming to encourage disadvantaged youth from Spencer-Van Etten and Newark Valley school high schools to stay in school and reach their potential; services to help people with disabilities and other challenges to find employment; and free clothing, personal needs products and assistance with housing and other necessities to hundreds of low income people each year.