LEBANON — When Julia Boger-Hawkins began managing Dartmouth Cancer Center’s Healing Harvest Food Pantry last July, it averaged four orders per day. Now that’s up to 20.

About 20% of the roughly 12,000 patients who received cancer treatment at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon last year had trouble obtaining nutritious food.

“The need is staggering frankly,” said Boger-Hawkins.

In an effort to reach and serve more patients, the cancer center has expanded the food pantry in Lebanon. Earlier this month, the hospital held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the larger space, which features a window where patients can order or pick up food. The walls surrounding it are printed with brightly colored produce.

“We’ve become more visible definitely,” Boger-Hawkins said.

Catherine Reed, an oncology social worker, said Deborah Scribner, vice president of Oncology Services at the cancer center, first launched what was then known as the DCC Food Pantry in 2022.

Patients receiving cancer treatment fill out a questionnaire — known as a social determinants of health screening — which lets providers know what other needs they may have.

“We realized that we had a lot of patients who were screening positive for food insecurity,” Scribner said. “This was our call to action.”

While Scribner believes food insecurity has always been a challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying inflation has made it more apparent.

Now that it’s better understood, Scribner and others want to make sure it is being addressed — especially in a way that is comfortable for patients and their families.

“I think it’s really hard for people in Northern New England to ask for help. I think we’re a pretty stoic lot and we want to take that element away so they don’t have to ask,” Scribner said. “We want to make it as easy as possible for anyone who needs access to food to have access to food.”

As the needs of patients grew, the center decided to invest more in the food pantry, which is primarily supported by donations from The Friends of Dartmouth Cancer Center and its annual race fundraiser, The Prouty. It costs around $60 to fill an order and the food pantry spends around $30,000 per month on groceries, Boger-Hawkins said. The expansion cost $200,000.

The food pantry is open to patients receiving cancer treatment, as well as their immediate families. Sometimes referrals come from providers including doctors, social workers and dietitians. Last year, 2,000 cancer patients got groceries every two weeks from Healing Harvest.

The renovated space follows other changes that have been underway the last six months. Patients receiving cancer treatment in Lebanon can now place orders via the Toast app, which allows them to browse what’s available online. There are 170 individuals who have placed an order using the app since it became available in December, Boger-Hawkins said.

In addition to ordering online, patients can also order in person at Healing Harvest. They can pick up their items there, or ask to have them brought out to their vehicles.

Fresh produce is the biggest request.

“We go through a lot of butter, eggs in particular these last few months have been really popular,” Boger-Hawkins, of Strafford, said.

They purchase their products from local producers, including McNamara Dairy, when they can. King Arthur Baking Company, Willing Hands and Cedar Circle Farm and Education Center also donate food. Meal kits have also proven popular. Each week, Boger-Hawkins and Healing Harvest’s dozen volunteers come up with a “Meal Kit of the Week” which features a recipe and the all ingredients to make it. The choice for the week of Feb. 10 was “Chuck Wagon Tortilla Stack,” which Boger-Hawkins described a “southwestern lasagna.”

“The last thing you want to think about after a day of treatment is what’s for dinner,” she said.

There are also specialty meal kits, including one for nausea known as the comfort kit, that includes peppermint tea, ginger ale, chicken broth and oyster crackers, which were suggested by volunteers, many of whom are cancer survivors or who have a close family member who is.

“Because I am a cancer survivor I think there’s always a great way to connect with each patient,” said Kim Hillier, of Etna, who started volunteering at Healing Harvest in July. “You understand when they say, ‘I really don’t feel well or this doesn’t taste good.’ ”

Volunteers’ favorite kits to give out are the celebration kits which include “everything you need to make a cake including a foil pan if you need one,” Boger-Hawkins said.

While they can be used to celebrate birthdays and other holidays, the best times is when they’re used for someone who has just completed treatment.

“People get to ring the bell and go home with a cake,” Boger-Hawkins said.

Volunteers develop relationships with patients who use the service when they stop by, which is something Hillier likes best about the two four-hour shifts she spends at Healing Harvest each week.

“You have direct patient contact with people who are really often struggling physically, mentally and also the added issue of food insecurity on top of all the health issues they’re already trying to work through,” she said.

More volunteers are needed to during the food pantry’s open hours, which are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Boger-Hawkins is already brainstorming ways to further expand Healing Harvest, including at Dartmouth Health’s partner hospitals, which include locations in Claremont, New London and Windsor.

“Scaling up will be expensive, but certainly a worthwhile investment in public health,” she said.

For more information about Healing Harvest, visit cancer.dartmouth.edu/patients-families/healing-harvest. Those interested in volunteering should email Boger-Hawkins at julia.m.boger-hawkins@hitchcock.org.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.