From the Dutchess Outreach web site:
​
“Dutchess Outreach acts as a catalyst for community revitalization and exists in Dutchess County as an advocate and provider of hunger and relief services in order to ensure that everyone, regardless of income, has access to fresh, healthy food, and the support they need.”
​
Two of Dutchess Outreach’s ongoing programs are The Lunch Box and the Beverly H. Closs Food Pantry.
The Lunch Box is a soup kitchen that serves the greater Poughkeepsie area. It strives to maintain is a nutritious diet for all individuals, considering that this will most likely be their only meal for the day. It feeds, on average, 200 people each day.
​
The Beverly H. Closs Food Pantry distributes donated food and essential toiletries to families in need. It has provided 102,492 meals for 4,807 families including 1,805 children.
​
FPUPC and Dutchess Outreach – The Lunch Box
​
The FPUPC community provides, helps prepare, and helps serve a full Sunday dinner at the Lunch Box twice a year. The first Sunday we serve is usually the Sunday closest to Saint Patrick’s Day, and we serve the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner with “all the fixings”. We also serve a barbecue chicken picnic dinner on a Sunday in mid-to-late August.
FPUPC and Dutchess Outreach – Beverly H. Closs Food Pantry
​
Non-perishable food and other essential items are collected at our worship services every Sunday morning and then delivered to the Beverly H. Closs Food Pantry for distribution to those in need. The church newsletter publishes a schedule suggesting specific categories of items that we donate each month, but all donations are welcome.
​
FPUPC and Dutchess Outreach – Souper Bowl of Caring
​
The Souper Bowl of Caring is a nationwide, interdenominational, faith-based program whose goal is to help alleviate hunger. It collects a nationwide free-will offering on the NFL’s Super Bowl Sunday.
The Senior High Youth Fellowship of FPUPC participates in the Souper Bowl of Caring by collecting this offering at the morning services on Super Bowl Sunday. The proceeds of this offering are donated to Dutchess Outreach to help fund their hunger alleviation programs like The Lunch Box and the Beverly Closs Food Pantry.
​
FPUPC and Dutchess Outreach – Ongoing Financial Support
​
A quarterly monetary donation to support the work of Dutchess Outreach is included in the church’s operating budget each year.