Nelson pantry gets a Food Lion-led makeover - The Daily Progress

Nelson pantry gets a Food Lion-led makeover - The Daily Progress

ARRINGTON — Oak Hill Baptist Church is moving its pantry from the church in Roseland to the Nelson Heritage Center on U.S. 29 in Arrington, where the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank has a mobile food pantry, to better serve residents in need.

When the church food pantry reopens on Oct. 18, the accessibility of the new location is expected to increase the number of families fed per month.

Edward Hendricks, pastor at Oak Hill, said his church provides about 70 families each month with an array food items. Because the mobile pantry at the heritage center is more accessible — it serves about 200 families a month — the church decided to relocate its main pantry to that location and collaborate with the food bank.

 “If they are coming at that rate on Tuesdays here, we need to combine so that they can get the full impact of what Blue Ridge Area Food Bank offers,” Hendricks said. “I feel that it is going to greatly impact the area and move from 70 families we are currently serving to between 200 and 300.”

After learning of the move and the church’s effort to serve more residents, the Lynchburg branch of the food bank, which gathers food from local and national sources and distributes it to partner agencies, nominated the church for a Food Lion Great Pantry Makeover.

Food Lion, a grocery store chain operating in 10 states in the United States, awards makeovers to food pantries nominated by food banks in the area they are working. Larry Cassels, director of operations for Food Lion in the Lynchburg area, said this is the fourth year the Lynchburg-area Food Lions have done a Great Pantry Makeover.

“We have a goal of preparing 500 meals and donating 1,500 man-hours to that cause as well by the year 2020,” Cassels said.

Food Lion associates recently came together at the Nelson Heritage Center to build and stock shelves for Oak Hill Baptist Church’s new and improved food pantry. The associates work daily at local Food Lions and volunteer their spare time to make The Great Pantry Makeover happen. Along with more shelving space, the renovations included new refrigerators for perishables. Angela Wheeler, regional community relations specialist for Food Lion, said Food Lion donated perishable and non-perishable food to Oak Hill as part of the makeover.

“Food donations today equal about 1,600 pounds of food, which should last for about a month,” Wheeler said. “However, we do have programs set up so that the food pantry can constantly receive food throughout the year.”

Dee Dee Green, coordinator of the Oak Hill Baptist Food Pantry, said the renovation and relocation came about because of everyone working together.

“It was truly a community effort to make this happen and everyone is happy to be a part of it,” said Green.

Michelle Hesse, director of agency relations and programs at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, shared Green’s sentiments. “We are very appreciative for Oak Hill Baptist Church as our partner in fighting hunger in our communities, as well as to Food Lion for their generous donation,” Hesse said. “All hands are important to solving the issue of hunger.”