The “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” Pig Roast is back!!

Last year’s pig roast (there’s Bar-B-Q chicken and veggies, too) was such a big success…they’re doing it again. Better yet…it’s all to benefit the work of a wonderful local group of caring citizens.

“We’re calling this a fun-raiser as well as a fund-raiser,” notes Anne Carriere, coordinator of Neighbors Helping Neighbors. “All the money we raise will go the Ancram Youth Commission for activities, events, or equipment to benefit the young people in Ancram and Ancramdale.” The event will include live music, and special adult and children’s activities–miniature horses to pet, games, children’s crafts, and a bake sale. A bring-your-own tag sale will feature pet supplies and gardening equipment.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) is a grassroots community group created in September 2006, to assist those in need in the Ancramdale area. That might sound like a broad agenda for a any group but these volunteers (consisting of about 35 households) are actually doing it. They meet once a month and open each meeting with a request for names of anyone in need of assistance. They use email and telephone lists to alert neighbors of local emergencies; help to locate unskilled assistance for homebound individuals and “stand ready to support their neighbors in time of crisis”. (NHN stresses that they are not a substitute for 911 or skilled social workers.)

NHN raises money to purchase and distribute holiday food baskets to needy families not covered by other agencies and organizations…they have established ongoing clothing and household goods drives; send cards and visit people in nursing homes and private homes “to cheer and assist”; drive elderly citizens to doctor’s appointments and just recently they even began a “trap-spay-neuter-inoculate” program for local feral cats. Quite an impressive volunteer group!

Attending the Annual Pig Roast is a fun (and delicious) way to help support a well-deserving organization! Lunch tickets for the event cost $15 each “for all you can eat–including roast pork, chicken, vegetables, vegetarian dishes, desserts, drinks and much more,” says organizer Annie Walwyn-Jones. Meals are also available to take out. Children age six and under can attend for free.

You can purchase tickets at The Farmer’s Wife, Ancramdale, and the Ancramdale Post Office. To reserve tickets, call 329-3835 or 329-0123.

For more information about NHN contact Anne Carriere at (518) 789-9134 — or just show up at the Pig Roast and they’ll be happy to tell you more.

When: June 1st, 2008 from 12 - 4 pm.

Where: Ancramdale Town Center (next to The Farmer’s Wife)