Archive: Opinions

Kudos to the Lansing Food Pantry!

As I write this, the Federal government shutdown is moving into its fourth week, with no end in sight. Tompkins County residents who are furloughed or unpaid Federal employees have now missed one paycheck, and may well miss at least one more before all of this is sorted out. Imagine missing a paycheck, and you have a pretty good idea of what these folks are going through.

It's hard for individual residents of Tompkins County to know how to help these financially stressed neighbors of ours. We don't necessarily know who they are, and, even if we did, Federal ethics rules prohibit most of them from accepting gifts from individuals. Fortunately, our local food banks and pantries are ready, willing, and able to help, by making their services available to furloughed and unpaid Federal employees in Tompkins County.

Our Lansing Food Pantry is leading the way in this effort!! Through Town Supervisor Ed Lavigne, food pantry director Toni Adams reached out to our airport director, Mike Hall, and volunteered to make the pantry's food stores available to the TSA employees at the airport. Ms. Adams assures us that the Lansing Food Pantry is committed to assisting TSA workers at the airport for the duration of the shutdown!

Our food pantry's generosity and willingness to help in a crisis like this is very heartening. If, like me, you want to help, you can make donations to the Lansing Food Pantry at 1767 East Shore Drive (at the skating rink). For information about when and what to donate, you can contact the food pantry at 379-7245, or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thank you! And many, many thanks to Toni Adams and the staff and volunteers of the Lansing Food Pantry, for their good work in this crisis, and all year round.

Deborah Dawson
Tompkins County Legislator, District 10
Village of Lansing, NY

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