Volunteer Spotlight - January/February 2022
Etta Kantor has been volunteering at the Pantry for just a few months, but has proven to be an absolutely indispensable addition to the team. Don't let her somewhat diminutive stature fool you, Etta is just bottled energy personified with an unbounded appetite for taking on the most strenuous tasks. Fifty-pound sack of potatoes needs lifting from a pallet to the table? No problem for Etta. One of the dreaded extra-heavy blue pallets has to be toted around? Call Etta and it is done. Or actually, no need to call, because she is one of those volunteers who sees that something needs to be done and just does it.
More precisely, Etta is bottled GREEN energy personified, being an early champion of sustainable and responsible practices that help protect and preserve the environment. With her late husband, she built a state-of-the-art house that was a showcase of energy-efficient technologies - and was driving around in a car fueled with waste cooking oil "rescued" from local restaurants.
Here are just a few media stories about Etta's pioneering work.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fuel-for-thought-72062736/
https://nypost.com/2008/04/17/making-a-fresh-start/
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Taking-Charge-Electric-cars-hailed-as-4603284.php
And if you subscribe to the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/nyregion/17towns.html