The Peoples Pantry

In February 2019, People Loving People facilitated a trip to Brooklyn, MD to host a one day womans retreat for the under privileged woman of the community. We planned a lovely day with a full agenda. We invited 20 women from Long Island to accompany us on this trip. 

The Retreat consisted of a Key Note Speaker, Nydia DiCarali, who encouraged the women with her powerful testimony and heartfelt words. The women then broke out into break-out sessions of prayer, crafts and small groups for community resources. A beautiful boxed lunch was served by our kitchen team along with homemade treats. We closed up our day with spa treatments including manicures, facials and back massages for all our guests. They also enjoyed participating in a free raffle with over 25 gift baskets. It was a huge success and we look forward to offering this type of event in our community in the future

In March of 2020, COVID forced the shut down of most non essential business in the area. People Loving People immediately moved our food distribution from inside the Oyster Bay community center, to a drive through food distribution outside of the center. Cars would line up for over 2 hours waiting for their vehicle to be loaded up with food by our team of volunteers. We would need close to 25 volunteers a day to pull off this amazing operation. At the height of the pandemic we served over 250 families a week totaling over 1000 people. We adjusted weekly depending on weather and quantities of food available. Our team made sure they all followed proper guidelines for protecting themselves against the virus with masks and gloves.  We were forced to move our distribution to First Presbyterian Church. where we handed out July 4th BBQ boxes filled with hotdogs and hamburgers for all, always with a smile and encouraging words for our guests. We are so thankful to Pastor Prey and all those at First Presbyterian who opened their church to allow us to continue to serve the community during this difficult time.

In September 2020,  we had our 1st Annual Back to School Event! PLP collected & purchased backpacks and school supplies through our donors and donations. We were able to allow all the community children to feel the normalcy of choosing their own supplies and bags in this very abnormal situation of Covid19. Over 100 children received all they needed to have a successful school year!

People Loving People was proud to offer FREE Mammography and cancer health screenings to the women of our community. Stony Brook Medicine brought their amazing state of the art RV and team of caring nurses to our location on October 21 st. There were 16 women were able to utilize their resources and received medical evaluations. A beautiful gift bag was provided from PLP for attending. They will definitely be back next year!

On November 11 St Francis Community health RV rolled in and set up for a day of health screenings, including a cholesterol screening, blood pressure, and glucose testing. Over 25 guests came and received screenings and FREE flu shots to protect them from he upcoming flu season. They also received referrals for specialists in the area .The nurses and staff of St Francis were so kind and caring to our guests and the community was so thankful. Each guest left with a special gift of their choice from our gift table. PLP is so grateful to partner with fantastic services like these!

On October 23 2020, Our First Annual Halloween Event kicked off at 4pm! The community children and their families came and were able to chose from tons of donated costumes from the community. Each child received a pumpkin bucket for their candy, along with brand new electric toothbrushes to brush up after all their candy! PLP set up a small pumpkin patch for children to chose an adorable sugar pumpkin to take home thanks to a donation from Heritage Farms of 100 pumpkins! It was SPOOKTACULAR!!!