The Daily Shrewsbury
By Lindsay Corcoran
SHREWSBURY, Mass. – Responding to a request from the Human Services Food Pantry of Shrewsbury, Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis recently provided free inmate labor through the Sheriff’s Inmate Community Service Program to the charitable organization for some much needed help stocking its pantry shelves with over 6,000 pounds of food items to be distributed during the month of May.
The project completed by the Sheriff’s Inmate Community Service Program provides the food pantry with several thousand dollars in savings.
The Sheriff’s inmate work release crews are made up of nonviolent, non-sex offender individuals approaching the end of their sentence who have earned a place in the Community Service Program.
Since taking office last year, Evangelidis has more than doubled the size of the Inmate Community Service Program and in 2011 in addition to the Human Services Food Pantry provided inmate work crews to complete projects at Shrewsbury’s Council on Aging, Public School Buildings, DPW and Assabet Valley Collaborative resulting in a significant savings of over $23,000 for Shrewsbury’s community.
“The Inmate Community Service Program has provided a true win-win for the Town of Shrewsbury and for the Sheriff’s Department. With local communities continuing to struggle during these tough fiscal times, our inmate work crews are able to complete many worthy projects at local food pantries, public school buildings, the council on aging, DPW and local collaboratives at little or no cost resulting in a significant savings for taxpayers while inmates who are selected for the program appreciate the opportunity of a productive days work.” Evangelidis said. “The Community Service Program is a great asset for our local communities and as Sheriff I will continue to provide this much needed and valuable resource to the cities and towns throughout Worcester County.”
“We can not thank Sheriff Evangelidis enough for providing the Inmate Community Service Program to help our Human Services Food Pantry today,” said Shrewsbury Human Services Food Pantry Director Joanne Keagan. “The Sheriff’s inmate work crews worked tirelessly to stock our pantry shelves with over 6,000 pounds of donated food items that will be distributed to over 1,800 Shrewsbury area residents in need during the month of May. The is truly a tremendous program that has provided a great service and benefit to our food pantry.”
