By Joanne Gonnerman
news@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó Two hours. 16,900 pounds of food. Approximately 400 families and 1,200 individuals. And lots and lots of volunteers.
Those numbers are part of the equation that describes Cooperative Christian Ministry’s mobile food pantry stop Oct. 23 at First Presbyterian Church in Kannapolis.
The day began with people lining up before sunrise for the opportunity to receive free food from Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, the largest hunger relief charity in the Charlotte area. First Presbyterian Church sponsored the event and Christian Ministry helped get it done.
“This is our eighth mobile food pantry event this year,” Barry Porter, food service director at Cooperative Christian Ministry, said. “We hold about one event a month at churches in Kannapolis and Concord.”
The mobile food pantry is a converted beverage truck that has been equipped to transport frozen and refrigerated food and other items. Roll-up doors on the sides of the truck open to reveal four bays of food provided by Second Harvest.
“The food is free. Totally free,” Porter said.
Eligibility is simple. Participants list their name, address and approximate monthly income on a registration form and wait in line for their turn to receive food. Each family gets 25 to 40 pounds of food.
“We don’t ask for income verification,” Porter said. “If people need it, they can have it.”
First Presbyterian Church paid $400 to fund the event. The money covers overhead like the cost of the truck, the driver’s salary and fuel.
About 65 percent of food Second Harvest distributes is donated, about 25 percent coming from government commodities. Second Harvest buys 5 percent of the food, and about 5 percent comes from food drives. Second Harvest serves 14 counties in North Carolina and five counties in South Carolina, and more than 600 partner agencies receive food.
Volunteers are an integral part of mobile food pantry stops. Volunteers from First Presbyterian and Christian Ministry participated in the Oct. 23 event. So did people who got food.
“People are very proud and want to do something to earn it,” Kris Edscorn, director of ministries at First Presbyterian Church, said. “It really was an amazing event. People just kept on coming and coming.”
“Without volunteers, we couldn’t do it,” Porter said. “I think the church volunteers were amazed at the number of people they saw in line.”This was First Presbyterian’s first time to sponsor a mobile pantry. Edscorn said it was a natural step for the church, which has helped Cooperative Christian Ministry in past years.
After Pillowtex closed in 2003, First Presbyterian housed a food pantry for former Pillowtex employees for five months.
Providing food for the community is biblical, Edscorn said. “It’s what Christ wants us to do.”
The need for food is obvious. Attendance at the First Presbyterian was the largest turnout this year.
The next mobile food pantry takes place Dec. 9, a Tuesday, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at St. James Catholic Church in Concord.
For information about sponsoring a mobile food pantry, contact Porter at 704-786-4709, ext. 22.