ROCK HALL — The Seventh-day Adventist Church here has received a $3,500 Nourishing Our Neighbors grant from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation.
The funds will support the church’s Blessing Bags program, which provides nutritious food to neighbors in Rock Hall and surrounding areas who are experiencing food insecurity.
The Nourishing our Neighbors grant supports community feeding partners by helping neighbors increase their access to nutritious food, nutritional education and resources to help them get back on their feet.
“Through the generous support of Food Lion’s grant, we will be able to purchase essential food items for our pantry,” said Blessing Bags Director Vicky Anderson. “This funding will strengthen our efforts to provide nutritious food to individuals and families in need and move us closer to achieving our goal of creating a more food-secure community.”
What began as a simple act of compassion in 2020 — distributing pre-filled Blessing Bags of groceries to about 15 families per week — has grown into a “vibrant, choice-based food pantry,” according to Anderson.
“As food insecurity increases in our community, so has our commitment to serve those in need. Today, our clients enter our food pantry and personally select the food items that best meet their families’ needs,” Anderson said.
This shift from pre-packed bags to a client-choice model has transformed the pantry clients’ experience.
“We not only distribute food, but restore dignity to those who come to the Blessing Bags [program], reduce waste, accommodate dietary restrictions and strengthen relationships within our community,” Anderson said in a statement.
Today, according to Anderson, the Blessing Bags program serves on average more than 90 individuals/families each week.
For more information, see https://www.rockhallsda.org/blessing-bags.
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The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic arm of grocer retailer Food Lion, based in Salisbury, North Carolina.
Established in 2001, the foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to eliminating hunger.
The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation has provided nearly $25 million in grant funding, helping to nourish communities with fresh food for backpack programs, Kids Cafés and other hunger-relief programs as well as funding for long-term programs to help shorten the lines at food banks.
The charitable foundation partners with Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief agency, in addition to local food agencies serving the 10 Southeastern and mid-Atlantic states in which Food Lion operates.
With a focus on hunger relief, Food Lion is a pioneer in food rescue.
Since 2014, the company’s hunger relief platform Food Lion Feeds has donated more than 1.5 billion meals to those who are food insecure. The retailer has committed to donate 3 billion meals by 2032, according to a news release.