(LOOTPRESS) – Food Lion Feeds is currently transforming dozens of community food pantries across multiple states through its annual The Great Pantry Makeover initiative.
The effort, now in its tenth year of operation, focuses on stocking food pantry locations and expanding food access as a means of addressing food insecurity. Through the initiative, over 900 volunteer hours will be provided through the organization’s largest associate volunteer effort yet.
Food Lion Feeds was first founded by the Food Lion organization in 2014, and The Great Pantry Makeover initiative is held each September to coincide with Hunger Action Month. Food Lion Feeds works with partners Feeding America during this time to inspire action against community hunger and to expand food accessibility.
“At Food Lion, we believe that no one should have to choose between dinner and rent or gas and groceries,” said Food Lion Feeds Manager, Kevin Durkee. “When we collaborate with our community feeding partners to create innovative solutions, such as pantry makeovers, we increase access to nutritious food so our neighbors and their families can have the nourishment they deserve.”
The thirty-day effort will see volunteers engaging in activities such as painting and cleaning pantry locations, as well as installing freezers, coolers, shelving, and other types of equipment to expand capacity for vegetables, fresh fruits, and other types of nutritious food items. Each location will additionally receive over three-thousand pounds of shelf stable food from Food Lion Feeds as part of the program.
Pantries in over half a dozen states will be receiving makeovers as part of The Great Pantry Makeover effort. These include pantries in the states of Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and West Virginia. West Virginia pantries participating as part of the program include the Pentecostal Holiness Church in White Sulphur Springs and The Salivation Army, Clarksburg Corps.
