VERGENNES — The Vergennes Community Food shelf has announced that they will continue to provide services, but will be switching to “outside only” food distribution as a response to the spread of COVID-19.  
Volunteers from four local churches — Vergennes Congregational Church (VCC), United Methodist Church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and St. Peter’s Catholic Church — will box a wide selection of items, including meat, milk and eggs, to be picked up at the VCC’s building at 30 Water Street at the regular times of Tuesday and Thursday, 2 to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. 
The food shelf adopted this social distancing to keep everyone safer, including volunteers. The food shelf asks that anyone with cold symptoms stay home. Arrangements will be made to get food to those who need it but cannot come to pick-up. The food shelf emphasized that no one will be left out.
Last year Vergennes food shelf served almost 5,500 people, an increase of 400 from the year before. It would not be open without a host of contributors. Each week Shaw’s Supermarket in Vergennes donates hundreds of pounds of meat, bread, pastries, dairy products and more that keep their six freezers full. Monument Farms supplies them with milk. Dozens of local businesses and clubs, as well as hundreds of individual donors, also contribute, allowing them to keep shelves stocked with basic needs.
The food shelf has a current want list for their regulars and to supply possible increased demand due to the COVID-19 virus: mac ‘n cheese, chicken noodle soup, baked beans, Hamburger Helper-type meals, canned peas and corn, potatoes, canned ravioli, hand soap and toilet paper. All items can be dropped off at the Vergennes Police Station.