August 7, 2024

News from the Food Pantry

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.

This past Saturday 128 families representing 471 household members and nine new families were welcomed. We have several volunteers who share their multi-language talent with us. If you speak Spanish or Ukrainian we could use your help, too.

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.  We thank you and appreciate your food and monetary donations.

— Kathy Noyes

News from The Lord’s Acre of Fletcher

Wash Your Hands! Thanks to a generous local donation, we have purchased a portable hand-washing station for use in the garden. NC State Extension office notes that over half of foodborne illnesses are spread by poor handwashing. And we do not want to spread e coli to pantry neighbors through contaminated produce.

The best way to avoid food contamination is to wash our hands or wear gloves when handling produce. We will now make that easy by providing a portable station with soap and a water faucet powered by a foot pump for hands-free washing. Please use it! Lets provide to pantry neighbors delicious, healthy, and safe produce.

Garden as Promise I like the woods and I like the garden. Both, if I take the time to look deeply and with intent, speak a profound truth: in spite of everything we have done to creation and to each other, God has not given up on us. I think this is what poet Gerard Manly Hopkins was getting at in his poem, "God's Grandeur." (It's my all-time favorite.)

It's best by far to hear it read. You can do that by clicking here.

— Doug Kearney