Lorraine’s Drive Seeks Food, Funds for Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen & Pantry

CHICOPEE — Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen & Pantry needs help to survive in a year filled with pandemic, unemployment, and families who are trying to make ends meet. The organization has seen a steady increase in visitors, and supplies are running low.

Ruben Reyes, executive director of Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen & Pantry, has seen a lot more people looking for food. “Lately, we’ve seen families who would not normally come through our doors. We’ve noticed a steady increase in families who are looking for meals,” he said, noting that Lorraine’s currently feeds 13% of Chicopee residents annually, or 600 families per month.

Adam Quenneville heard that Lorraine’s needed help and created Lorraine’s Drive to round up food and funds for the soup kitchen and pantry through the end of December. Quenneville is asking local people and businesses to contribute. He will accept food donations at his South Hadley office, and he has pledged to raise $5,000 for Lorraine’s through his own sales of roofing, siding, decks, and roofing services.

“We’ve seen what Lorraine’s has done for our community since 1980, and now they need us,” said Quenneville, who installed a free roof on Lorraine’s building 12 years ago. “I have decided to create a public drive so Lorraine’s gets what it needs to help our families and friends in these troubled times. I will also donate a portion of every sale I make through the end of the year to raise $5,000 for Lorraine’s.”

Quenneville is asking other local businesses to match his $5,000 donation or to contribute what they can to Lorraine’s Drive. “This is our community,” he said. “We need to take care of it.”

Monetary donations can be made on the donations page at lorrainessoupkitchen.com. Non-perishable food donations can be dropped at Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen & Pantry, 170 Pendexter Ave., Chicopee, or Adam Quenneville Roofing & Siding Inc., 160 Old Lyman Road, South Hadley. For more information, or to make a business donation, contact Quenneville at (413) 536-5955 or Reyes at (413) 592-9528 or ruben@lorrainessoupkitchen.com.