March 19, 2025

Thanks to the Thirteen Thursday volunteers who assisted in planting 400 collard plants in the Lords Acre of Fletcher. What an incredible evening, planting collards in the raised beds in the garden and the hoophouse while a gentle breeze, a comfortable temperature, and peaceful conversation circulated among the planters. Hold that thought......Sunday morning our collard covers were strewn hither and yon. Doug sent an SOS memo out and we are thankful to the group of people who helped retrieve the covers for us and secured them once again over the tender collard plants.

 We welcomed 123 families representing 461 individuals and twelve new families on Saturday. The twelve new families averaged four members per family.  We continue to need volunteers who can help with Spanish registrations. Once a month would be very helpful!

 Volunteer Spotlight this week: Connie Watson and Carey Player. Connie serves on our Pantry board as Pickup Coordinator and leads our TEFAP distribution. As pickup coordinator, she recruits volunteers who once a month pickup five boxes of milk at MilCO during the week and delivery to the Pantry. Another group of volunteers pickup milk once a month at Sav-Mor on Friday mornings. Sav-Mor personnel load the milk in your car and other volunteers at the Pantry unload it. The pickup that's a bit of a challenge is the Sav-Mor canned food pickup. In all honesty you need a truck or SUV to pickup items. Please be in touch with the church office and we will get the info to Connie if you're interested in more information. Connie also wrote the history and photographed the pictures for the Calvary Episcopal Church Food Pantry 2009-2021 book. Books are available for checkout in the church and Pantry offices. Carey moved to the Fletcher area from Sumter, SC where she was active in the local community food pantry. Carrie volunteers on Manna days and on Fridays. She could be classified as a full service volunteer, not only does she break down the cardboard boxes to be recycled and hauled off to the dumpster; she also helps check the eggs, bag any of the fruit or produce, and stock the shelves, for Saturday distribution. We are grateful for Carey sharing time with us as she also serves on the Mission Outreach at her church.

 On behalf of our Pantry Board, we express our heartfelt gratitude for your generous food and monetary donations to our pantry. Your donations will make a significant impact on the lives of those in our community who are struggling with food insecurity. - Kathy Noyes, for the Executive Committee

 News from The Lord’s Acre of Fletcher, March 18, 2025 – Thanks to a generous grant from the Deerfield Charitable Foundation, we will be installing a second hoop house between the existing one and the raised beds. This will allow us to increase yields and quality, rotate hoop house crops for disease control, and extend our harvests into winter. We expect to be planting by mid to late summer.

- Doug Kearney, Garden Manager