When the Bishop called on parishes across the diocese to deepen their community outreach, St. Elizabeth's in Floral Park responded by building something distinctive: a pantry stocked not with food, but with the everyday essentials that so often go overlooked by other forms of assistance. Working alongside a Catholic parish across the street that runs a food ministry, St. Elizabeth's created the Paper Plus Pantry so that neighbors could receive both a meal's worth of groceries and the paper goods, toiletries, and school supplies that stretch a family's budget the rest of the month.
What began as a small, parishioner-supported effort has grown steadily busier as word has spread through the surrounding community. Visitors line up for diapers, wipes, backpacks, notebooks, and winter accessories like knit hats and gloves, and the pantry increasingly relies on donations from local businesses and individual supporters to keep pace. As demand continues to outstrip what a limited monthly distribution can comfortably provide, St. Elizabeth's keeps working to expand its storage and stock so that dignity, not scarcity, defines the experience of everyone who comes through its doors.