JAFFREY — They aren’t the usual tree ornaments, but the mittens that hang on the Christmas tree at the United Church of Jaffrey are symbols of the caring and giving that goes on in the community throughout the year.

“They knit all year for this thing,” said Owen Houghton Tuesday.

Houghton is a Jaffrey resident and a member of the United Church’s Christian Social Concerns Committee, which oversees the community missions of the church, including its emergency shelter and food pantry.

The chair of the committee, Sandy Carland of Jaffrey, said the tree is named the Pauline Forcier mitten tree in memory of the woman who started knitting for children in need quite a few years ago. Forcier’s relatives and many others have continued the tradition she began. The mittens they knit, collect and donate serve as decorations for the tree through the holiday season and then are distributed to local daycares, schools and the food pantry.

“We get tons of them. Every year, that tree is full. It never ceases to amaze me,” Carland said.

Right up until Christmas, residents of Jaffrey and beyond drop off mittens in the basket near the front door of the sanctuary, which is always open, she said.

Like the mitten tree, other missions of the church have also become community endeavors.

“It’s really a non-denominational operation,” Houghton noted about the food pantry. “It just happens to be housed in United Church.”

Volunteers and food donations come from the First Church in Jaffrey and St. Patrick Church, as well as various other organizations, he said. The person who runs the food pantry, Fay Cooke of Jaffrey, isn’t even a member of the church, Houghton noted.

There are many people working behind the scenes in Jaffrey to meet the needs of those less fortunate, he said.

“‘Tis the season for being jolly; well not everybody is,” Houghton said. But he added, “I think this is a particularly good community in terms of sensitivity to needs.”

When the shelves of the pantry begin to go bare and the word goes out, he said, the shelves don’t stay that way for long.

The food pantry opened in 1976, but was greatly expanded in the 1990s, Cooke said Tuesday. Cooke began volunteering at the pantry in 2001, when the Jaffrey Woman’s Club, which she belongs to, got involved.

“It’s very busy. I would say over the past year we have had an increase of 20 to 25 percent in new recipients,” she said. “Winter is more difficult and we did have some homeless people we were helping, but I don’t know where they are now.”

The pantry, which is open Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., currently serves about 75 families who live in Jaffrey and Rindge. Occasionally, residents from Antrim, Dublin, New Ipswich and elsewhere come in too, Cooke said, but volunteers often encourage people to go to the food pantry in their own town first.

Anyone who receives other kinds of benefits automatically qualifies for help at the food pantry. Otherwise, people are screened for income levels. A single person earning less than $18,500 a year would qualify, Cooke said.

“But really so many people coming in to see us have no income or are well below the income limits,” she said.

The community is meeting the need, according to Cooke, even though the need seems endless. At this time of year, the pantry is well stocked, as donations stream in from the food drives the Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and local schools hold. People also make donations at TD Bank in Jaffrey. Plus, the pantry uses monetary donations to purchase food from the N.H. Food bank and also receives food from the Community Kitchen in Keene.

Hannaford Supermarkets delivers meat, deli items and bakery goods twice a week, Cooke said. C&S Wholesale Grocers in Keene, Millipore, Belletetes, the Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce, Market Basket and the Jaffrey-Rindge Rotary Club, Millard Group and Microspec Corporation are also regular donors to the pantry.

“A lot of people have really come forward because of the economy to help us,” said Cooke. “The food doesn’t last long.”

Cooke said she regrets that the pantry doesn’t have more fresh produce to offer, but hopes that will change. There is also a need for a weekly community supper, where hot meals can be served, but finding the right location and the right kitchen has been a stumbling block, she said.

“We’ll keep trying.”

The emergency shelter at the church, called Alis Place, is run by several volunteers of the congregation, Carland said, and is named after the first shelter director, Alison Reiner, who is deceased. It’s a temporary place to stay, but there’s no supervision, so each case is evaluated individually, Carland said.

“We get donations quite often. Right now, we’re looking for a better TV for in there,” she said of the one-room shelter.

Carland, who has been on the Social Concerns Committee for more than 15 years, said the needs of the community seem to be greater this year and there is definitely a need for more emergency shelters in the area.

“There’s so many young people with children, who seem to have no place to go,” she said. “I’m facing the winter with great trepidation. I’m hoping it lightens up for people.”

Houghton agreed that needs are greater this year in Jaffrey, as well as throughout the state and the country, but the holidays and the cold weather are reminders of the opportunity to give for those who can afford to. Those who give may get more from the experience than the recipients, he said.