Each month, thousands of hungry Wilmington residents visit Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, a nonprofit organization that distributes produce, meat, bread and other packaged foods to clientele in need and will celebrate its 30th anniversary later this month.
Vinny Sicurella, a retired sanitation worker from Staten Island, N.Y., visits the center to collect food for his daughter, a single parent.
Sicurella said although his daughter works full time as a nurse, she struggles to put food on the table on top of other bills, including rent and utilities, for her and her 10-year-old daughter.
Although Sicurella’s granddaughter receives free lunches at school, he said she wouldn’t have enough food at home if it weren’t for Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard.
“My daughter doesn’t like to come here because she’s too proud, but I told her she has to start coming,” Sicurella said.
In 2014, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard supplied food to 36,312 people. Of them, 1,786 did not have stoves.
While most clients can receive food no more than once a month, clients without stoves are permitted to receive emergency food once a week.
Packages of food marked NS for “no stove” contain beef jerkey, ramen noodles, juice boxes and small boxes of cereal, among other nonperishable foods.
Jane Spicer, Mother Hubbard’s former president, said each person who receives food from the organization must fill out a form with demographic information, including family size and income.
“They can be prosecuted if they are making more than what’s on the form,” she said.
The organization also requires clients to bring identification for themselves and each family member for whom they are getting food the first time they visit the center.
“We count how many in the family as how many were served,” Spicer said.
However, Spicer said fraudulent activity is not an issue at Mother Hubbard’s.
“The people I see coming in really need the food,” she said. “It’s an easy job to be down there giving the food out because people are very grateful.”
Spicer said donations from organizations and individuals sustain Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard. The Catherine Kennedy Home Foundation, the Landfall Foundation and many local churches are among the donors.
“This is a generous community, and we are often beneficiaries,” she said.
Spicer said the center’s need for monetary donations is as great as its need for food donations.
“We started out only buying food, and now we pay rent, utilities and we have freezers for the meat,” she said. “We have to pay for the trash and cardboard recycling.”
Many large corporations, like CVS, donate food to Mother Hubbard’s.
“They give us crackers and candy and things that we don’t ordinarily buy,” she said.
Food Lion often donates meat, which is placed in freezers before being distributed to clients.
Spicer said although the organization is not affiliated with a religious group, it was started by Sister Isaac of St. Mary Catholic Church, and other locals who recognized a need for a food distribution service.
Now, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard is located on Red Cross Street and has more than 400 regular volunteers.
The organization’s current president, Roxann Lansdowne, is busy preparing for the 30th anniversary celebration on Sunday, Sept. 20.
“We are putting out food for everybody. We have a whole photography section on the history of the Cupboard,” she said. “This is a special thing. We haven’t done anything like this.”
Lansdowne said the event is open to the public, and guests can enjoy deviled eggs and pimento cheese sandwiches, among other homemade treats.
“We are making everything from scratch,” she said.
Lansdowne said Sister Isaac will deliver the keynote address.
To learn more about Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, visit www.motherhubbardsnc.com
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