April 12, 2023

When our neighbors arrived on Saturday morning, they were so appreciative of all the time and effort that the pantry volunteers had spent in preparation for food distribution and items for a tasty Easter meal. Not only were the shelves stocked with over 4,556.5 pounds of additional food items that have been delivered over the past two weeks from a Manna Food Drive.....(that's over two tons)....they also received a ham, a bag of potatoes, fresh green beans, a can of pineapple, dinner rolls, and a stick of butter. VERITAS provided Easter cards and two baskets of food items collected by their third grades. Hendersonville Middle School's entire student body participated in their food drive which was sponsored by the Student Council. Several representatives from the Student Council were ambassadors for the school and helped unload the 812 pounds of food items last Thursday.

We welcomed new volunteers from Biltmore Church who assisted with shopping and carryout. A huge thank you to the men's group from Fletcher United Methodist Church who picked up our hams for distribution in the pouring cold rain on Saturday. Dan, Martha, Jeff, and Bill picked up additional items of pineapple, potatoes, rolls, butter, and bread to feed our 144 neighbors. This represents 496 individuals, and nine new families this week. Our neighbors had the chance to meet new volunteers and make new acquaintances during during their time at the pantry. There are opportunities to volunteer in the garden too on Saturday mornings.

City Bakery donated loaves of bread. Other donated items were from Bright Farms-lettuce, Ingles Panera, and Bimbos-bread, Wal-Mart and Big Lots, misc items, Flavor-First - tomatoes and peppers, and MilkCo-milk. Friday, our volunteers stocked the shelves with purchased items from MANNA and Sav-Mor (canned goods, milk, and eggs). Other produce this week included squash, cabbage, jalapenos, and cucumbers

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 for your food and monetary donations. We are able to feed our neighbors 3 and 1/2 days of food or 11 meals.