Enjoy your fresh vegetables," our produce volunteers chanted on Saturday morning!  Carrots, Collards, and Bok Choy were all harvested from the garden on Thursday afternoon and offered to our neighbors on Saturday.  Bright Farms', organic lettuce, Flavor First tomatoes, and a variety of fruit were available too. Thursday afternoon, a team from Holy Cross Faith Memorial Episcopal Church, Baskerville Food Pantry and the Blessing Box drove from Pawley's Island, SC pulling a U-Haul trailer filed with food and supplies.

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This past Saturday, the pantry was filled with neighbors and volunteers including nine students from Christ School.  Not only did our neighbors leave with a shopping cart filled with their personal food selections but also were offered warm hats with matching gloves.  We welcomed 95 neighbors representing 373 individuals.  Nine new families joined us shopping for 3 1/2 days of food or 11 meals.

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What a blessing it was to be able to staff the pantry for four days a week to distribute food to our neighbors.  Over 484 families received food representing 1,811 individuals for the month of October.  Our shelves were full because of the generosity of our community, donations from many areas in our state, and SC, PA, LA, TN, VA, GA.  This week Feed & Seed donated food items and East Grove Church in Franklin, PA. via Ox Creek Community in North Buncombe.

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During the past month an outpouring of appreciation from our "neighbors," faithful volunteers, and the generous donations from throughout the southeast have been overwhelming and so appreciated.  Since Helene, we have continued to offer food, personal care items, baby food and diapers, items for cleaning, dog/cat food, and flashlights/ batteries, etc. 

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The continuing outpouring of support from volunteers has been overwhelming. Over the last week, several new families have joined us for the Wednesday and Saturday distribution. Today Lisa joined us with two middle school students, her son and his friend. Sande and her adult daughter were whirlwinds sorting through the containers filled with items of food, cleaning supplies, and a vast array of baby things. Since Sunday, October 6th, the pantry has been open on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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Helene...How do we reflect on a storm that is described as catastrophic, unprecedented, Biblical, and the worst ever storm in our region?!  Then a "flood "of activity continued all week at the pantry. Some of the donations arrived from Murfreesboro, TN, Louisiana, Pawley's Island, SC, Durham and Sanford, NC.  Beyond all Borders donated Weber grills and Ingles a pallet of lettuce. A handful of volunteers braved the drive to the pantry on Sunday the 29th for food distribution.

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The Henderson County Hunger Coalition will be having its 42nd Hunger Walk as part of the Henderson County Hunger Coalition's annual walk on Saturday, September 28; at 11:00 a.m. Betty Robins assembled walkers from the community to be part of the Saturday walk in Hendersonville.  Arden Woods held a Hunger Walk on Sunday, September 17 at 4 p.m on their campus coordinated by Pat Jollie and Carol Romine. Donations received from the walks are distributed by the Henderson County Hunger Coalition.

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A dilemma this week....two huge neighbor stories.  Sooooo lets begin with another first at the pantry.  This past Saturday, we welcomed a 100 year-old neighbor. It was her first time shopping with us. Only wish you could have witnessed the delight in her eyes as she moved up and down the aisles filling her buggy with various items. The second happening was a neighbor shared with us the picture posted below from her cell phone. She prepared a chicken pie and a quiche using items from the pantry.

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On Thursday, September 5th,  approximately 75 volunteers and spouses attended and enjoyed an end of summer picnic on the pantry garden grounds. Grill master Dan Vining expertly cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. A treat for some was authentic “snappy grillers”, an Upstate New York favorite German white sausage. Dan personally brought these back from Syracuse. What’s next Dan, another Syracuse favorite, “salt potatoes”? For dessert, attendees were treated to a combination of homemade cookies and ample slices of delicious pantry garden grown mini watermelons.

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St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville, as part of their ministry outreach program, dedicated the month of September for donations of food to our pantry. We were surprised and delighted when a call was received after only three days of collecting donations. Over 100 pounds of food and produce had been donated. Items were gathered, transported to the pantry, weighed, and placed on the shelves for Saturday distribution.

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We are overwhelmed by the support of our community this week. Michael, an Eagle Scout candidate, and his father worked in the perennial garden that he planned and help plant with his troop.  On Monday, Chef Martha picked up a sizeable donation from Harris Teeter. On Wednesday, we received a bulk order from Sav-Mor.  With the assistance of Todd and his crew and Chef Martha with her team, they transported the items from Hendersonville to the pantry. Items were placed in inventory for distribution on Saturdays.

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What a surprise this week when Brenda from the Society of St. Andrews delivered six boxes of apples that were gleaned from our community. We truly appreciate their time and effort. With produce from the garden, donations from Flavor First and Tractor Farm, our neighbors had a variety of produce for their families. The highlights of the week were the Mini-Love watermelons harvested from the garden and the 150 collard plants that were planted by the Thursday night volunteers. You're welcome to join us! A good time is had by all!

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The pantry garden continues to be a valued supplement to our fresh vegetable offerings.  Current plantings are now yielding abundant harvests. So far in August the garden has yielded 409 pounds to our current year to date total of 2,389 pounds. Garden volunteers have worked continuously to create this high-quality fresh organic produce. They are rightfully proud of their accomplishments and get positive feelings from being able to offer food that they have produced themselves.

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Gold! Silver! & Bronze!  No — not medals from the Olympics in Paris!  We.... at the Pantry and Garden hit some milestones too. Our Garden has produced over 2,000 pounds of produce this year.  Each Saturday the healthy organic vegetables are distributed to our neighbors. Manna delivered over 9,000 pounds of food this week including frozen meats, fresh produce, and food from The Emergency Food Assistance Program.  Items will be offered on Saturday between 8-11 a.m.  Our third accomplishment of the week was the new volunteers on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday assisting in the garden and pantry.

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A special "Shout Out "for our extremely dedicated volunteers who were at the Pantry on Saturday!  When 137 neighbors arrived throughout the morning, many of you stayed to ensure all had an opportunity to individually shop for food. An apology for excluding our stats on June 20, however it will show you the difference in what a week can make. June 20 we welcomed 114 neighbors representing 410 household members and ten new families. This past Saturday 137 families representing 504 household members and twelve new families were welcomed. Thanks to the Lords Acre of Fletcher, our garden and Tractor farm's produce, we distributed over 2,000 pounds of healthy produce to our neighbors this past Saturday.

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What a pleasure it was to have youth from Atlanta, Glenn Memorial Methodist Church, spend the morning with us on Tuesday!  They are part of the Asheville Youth Ministry experience. The youth picked 100 pounds of produce from the garden.  On Saturday, our neighbors will be offered green beans, cherry tomatoes, and yellow squash. Later in the morning they had a tour of the pantry and helped bag the green beans for distribution. They topped the morning off with a picnic on our campus.

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It wasn't long ago that a hardy group of volunteers gathered at the garden to remove the rocks and amend the soil filled with clay. Who would have thought that The Lord's Acre of Fletcher, our garden, would be producing over 200 pounds of vegetables each week and over 1500 pounds of produce this season!  Squash are harvested just about every other day, along with green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and my personal favorite, perpetual spinach.

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The pantry garden continues to be a valued supplement to our fresh vegetable offerings. Current and pending plantings are heralding abundant harvests in the coming months. Including other in-kind contributions, we were able to offer an additional 1,687 pounds of fresh produce in June at no monetary expense to the pantry. So far in July we have harvested 191 pounds of fresh produce with more on the way.

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June 22nd  and June 29th were busy mornings albeit visiting households were somewhat slightly lower than usual:

June 22 – 109 Households comprised of 418 individuals, 8 new households totaling 29 individuals.

June 29 – 117 households comprised of 404 individuals, 4 new households totaling 10 individuals.

Through May we were averaging 129 households per week; the current average has declined to 126 through June.

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Summer camp groups are always helpful in the garden as vegetables and weeds grow profusely. Thanks to the Disciples of Christ Church of Lexington, KY working with Asheville Youth Mission and the Service Adventure group from Lutheridge who mulched, weeded, and harvested in the last week.

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