February 22, 2023
As we conclude Pantry-ary month, many thanks to those who stopped by to learn more about the Pantry and Garden. We were grateful to have you as a guest and hope you will join us as a volunteer at the Pantry or in the next few weeks at the garden. The youth of Fletcher United Methodist Church held a "Souper Bowl" food drive and the 427 food items they collected were delivered on Friday. A picture has been included for you to see how clever the youth were in their collection. They had three food collection tubs labeled Chiefs, Eagles, and Referees. Ironically, the Chiefs received the most food items. Thrivent Financial awarded us a $250 for Boost. Heather's, fifth grade classroom, at North Windy Ridge created "Kindness Bags" for our neighbors. Not only were their Kind breakfast bars, but other snacks as well, a personal care product, and a handwritten note. What an amazing finish to Pantry-ary month!
We welcomed 106 families representing 341 individuals. Two new families came and received food for the first time with us. While our neighbors waited for their turn to shop, they were able to select magazines, books, or calendars to take home. Thank you to our supporters for your donations. We make these items available to other non-profits who meet in the gathering room too.
City Bakery donated loaves of bread. Other donated items were from Bright Farms-lettuce, , Ingles and Bimbos-bread, Wal-Mart-misc. items, Flavor-First peppers and tomatoes, and MilCo-milk. Friday, our volunteers stocked the shelves with items from MANNA and Sav-Mor (canned goods, milk, and eggs). Manna provided fresh produce-eggplant, sweet potatoes, apples, squash, and turnips. We purchased potatoes, carrots, and onions from JandJ Tomato Co. Monetary donations are appreciated as we have seen our number of neighbors increase from first quarter last year 70-90 to 110-130 in first quarter 2023.
On behalf of the executive committee, thank you to our volunteers and our area churches, civic groups, local merchants, and families for all you do to feed our community helping to reduce food insecurity.
Kathy Noyes
