Though Cohasset has changed a lot over the past three and a half decades, one aspect that has not is Jane Corry’s dedication to the Cohasset Food Pantry. 

    Jane has been an active member of the community in her 46 years here, from teaching school to leading CCD classes to tutoring children when she had her own. So when Bob Thompson, the first Food Pantry director, asked Jane for help as one of the pantry’s first volunteers at the Second Congregational Church, she said, “tell me when to be there, and I'll be there.” 

     Thirty-four years later, even after the Food Pantry relocated to the basement of the St. Anthony’s rectory, Jane Corry is still there.

      Working her way from volunteer to leader of the organization, Jane is complimentary of the directors before her and modest about her present role. “It was kind of something I didn't ask for, but we needed somebody,” Jane explains. “I like to call us a team.”

    That team consists of both current and past Cohasset residents. There’s Deanna Mulligan, who taught CCD with Jane; Betty Cisneros, who taught school with Jane and has been helping for over 15 years; Pat and Steve Hague, who have volunteered for 15+ years; Carol Martin, who has volunteered for 15+ years, Toni Mercurio has volunteered for over 12 years; Patty Line, who taught CCD and has volunteered for about a year; and the most recent volunteer is Quinn Noon, a young mom new to Cohasset who joined the team last spring. 

“We always seem to find somebody or somebody finds us who has a special skill that can help,” Jane reflects. “Other community organizations, like the Senior Center and the four churches in town all support us.” (The Food Pantry itself is nondenominational.)

 Jane often works with CHS students looking for volunteer hours and also receives fresh fruit and vegetables from John Belber from Holly Hill Farm.

However, Jane cherishes not only the relationships she has fostered with volunteers, but also those with clients. 

“They can trust me,” Jane says, adding that part of why she has stayed in the Pantry’s current location is its privacy. “I need to protect their dignity and their identity.”

“Nobody's really excluded,” adds Jane. “We always find a way to help people.”

Though the Pantry cannot serve residents of other towns, Jane refers out-of-town clients to their local food pantry, and when her clients leave, she reaches out to the pantry in their new town so that, “they'll have a step in the door.” 

Jane’s experience has taught her the Food Pantry’s patterns. She now begins Thanksgiving preparations in August. “Holidays definitely are the busiest. That's when people tend to think about us and think about people in need.”

But the Pantry can use the community’s support year-round. “Pretty much, what we don't get donated, we have to buy, and that money all comes from donations or the very few grants that we get,” Jane explains. “And we use that money, everything. None of us are paid. We're all full-time volunteers. Always have been.”

As she looks forward to continuing her work in the coming years, Jane bases her goals on her past experiences.

Inspired by the Scituate Food Pantry, she plans to print a list of needed items for the postal service to deliver to mailboxes for their national Stamp Out Hunger food drive in May. 

Jane hopes to teach more young people how the Pantry runs to ensure its continuation. “I really like it when the kids not only can see it, but they can be a part of it. Because I think that's the best way to learn.”

And from visiting other South Shore organizations, Jane says, “one of my goals is to reach out to all the food pantries. And I would like to form some type [of organization] that we can meet once or twice a year, and talk about our strengths, our weaknesses, what can we help each other with.”

Jane considers her work with the Food Pantry one of the most fulfilling aspects of her life, reminding her that positivity does exist. “There's a lot of good, and we always hear about the bad stuff.”

So what does Jane want Cohasset to know about the Food Pantry?

“That we are here. We do exist. And there is a need,” says Jane. 

And there are so many ways to get involved, from dropping off non-perishable food donations and holding neighbor drives. Parents can ask for food donations instead of gifts at children’s birthday parties or donate grocery store gift cards around the holidays and make monetary donations in the form of checks made out to the Cohasset Food Pantry. 

Because, as Jane firmly believes, small communities can make great change. “There’s something everybody could do, even if it’s a little bit.”

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