The Presbyterian Women’s (PW) Spring Retreat was held Saturday, April 6, 2024, in the Fellowship Hall and addressed Food Insecurity. Over the next two weeks, PW will share highlights from the retreat.
The theme Food Insecurity was selected as almost 11% of North Carolina’s population, about 1.2 million people, are food insecure. In Wake County, nearly 10% of the community face food insecurity. Hunger affects all population groups such as children, students in all settings including universities, seniors, and those who are homeless. Many of our PW Missions focus on feeding ministries such as the bag lunch ministry and food donations to Wake Relief, BackPack Buddies, and Urban Ministries. We wanted to learn more and perhaps do more. With that in mind, we asked attendees to bring canned goods to support Wake Relief and BackPack Buddies. We also had our lunch catered by A Place at the Table (APATT); we included an option for attendees to pay more for their lunch with the additional money going to support APATT.
Community Programs Addressing Food Insecurity
A Place at the Table
Maggie Kane, Founder and Executive Director of A Place at the Table (APATT), was our keynote speaker. Maggie’s passion and energy was infectious! As an enthusiastic NC State student and WRPC PCM member, she started APATT in 2015 with the mission to provide community and good food for all regardless of means. She eventually opened a storefront café in January 2018. Since March 2020, they served 35,238 meals, $62,000 value of meals of donated, and 4,681 meals pay it forward. APATT looks like any other restaurant: there is a greeter at the door who welcomes customers, explains how it works—order food and then choose how you want to pay: pay the suggested price; pay less than the suggested price—pay what you can; volunteer for your meal—volunteer in the café for one hour; or pay it forward—donate online, pay a tip, buy a $10 PLACE card to hand out to someone. Then sit down and enjoy a yummy meal! She talked about her plans including the ‘Traveling Table Food Truck.’ This initiative evolved from Maggie’s appearance on the Kelly Clarkson show where she was presented with a surprise $100,000 check to expand her non-profit. She truly has a heart to serve, desire to be inclusive, and passion about loving people. WRPC members continue to support Maggie and APATT by volunteering, eating meals there, and offering continued support.
Wake Relief/BackPack Buddies/Urban Ministries of Wake County
In Catherine Meynardie’s absence, Mary Thornbury gave an overview of how Presbyterian Women contribute to feeding ministries including Wake Relief, BackPack Buddies, and Urban Ministries of Wake County. Wake Relief has provided an all-volunteer emergency food pantry for Wake County since 1975. They provide a week’s worth of nutritional groceries based on the size of the family; clients may receive food every 60 days. BackPack Buddies is part of the Interfaith Food Shuttle. They help alleviate child hunger by providing children in need with nutritious and kid-friendly food at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. Food is sent home from school in the students’ backpacks. School-based pantries are also located at some schools to provide a more readily accessible source of food assistance to students and their families. Urban Ministries provides food, healthcare, shelter, medication refills, and referrals to other vital services in the community. Their food pantry provides a week’s worth of groceries to each household that visits the pantry. The selection varies from fresh produce to frozen meats to canned goods. Each group has its own food lists for donations. Donation bins are in the Coatroom along with the food lists. Anyone can pick up a list of requested food, purchase some of those items, and place the items in the bins. Catherine then sorts the food and takes it to the various agencies.
Feed the Pack
Brian Mathis, Associate Director of Student Leadership and Engagement at NCSU, talked about Feed the Pack Food Pantry. The mission is to help meet the food needs of all members of the NC State community with dignity and respect. According to the 2023 Housing and Food Insecurity Study, student food insecurity increased to 30% from 15% in 2017. The Pack Essentials Programs includes Feed the Pack Food Pantry, the Student Emergency Fund, Meal Share, and other programs that support students in the key areas of housing, food security, financial wellbeing, and student success. Feed the Pack succeeds with student leadership, community partnerships and support, and fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s open Tuesdays through Fridays.
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