Food Pantry To Feed 400 More Families Thanks To Solar Donation

The is used to getting food and monetary donations, but last month, it received a donation in the form an 8 kilowatt solar electric system that will allow them to feed even more families.

GreenLogic, based in Southampton, installed the system on the Accabonac Road hub to help the food pantry reduce energy costs.

”As full time residents of East Hampton, my business partner, Nick Albukrek, and myself understand the hard times many people are going through in the community as a result of the economic downturn, and we are happy to be able to help the Food Panty have more funds to help feed the needy," said Marc Clejan, one of the owners of GreenLogic.

"The great thing about donating a solar system is that it is the gift that keeps on giving, as it will produce free power to the pantry for 30 years," he said in a statement.

According to GreenLogic, the solar system will produce about 9,000 kilowatt hours a year of clean energy, amounting to approximately $2,000 a year in savings and $100,000 over the life of the system.

Kathy Byrnes, the pantry's director, said the savings will allow the organization to feed an additional 400 families a year, 12,000 families over the lifetime of the system. The annual electric bill had been $7,200. Byrnes said that's two week’s worth of food. "This donation will enable us to put our money directly into our food purchasing,” she said in the statement.

The organization also gets a $22,770 rebate as part of LIPA’s Solar Pioneer and Entrepreneur Program, available to all Long Island home and business owners installing solar.

GreenLogic has also made solar donations to the and .

The nearby also .