Meet Miss Katherine and Mr. Levi. They run the Poplar Springs food pantry, one of our partner agencies in Raleigh. 
Miss Katherine told us that the line outside the food pantry has increased 75 percent in recent months, and they’ve struggled to provide enough food for everyone who needs it. The pantry already had their normal distribution for the week, but Miss Katherine said she opened the pantry again today because so many folks have been calling, looking for food.
“We’re there on the front line because we know there’s a real need and we want to do everything we can to fulfill that need. We see folks lining up, coming in the pantry in wheelchairs, coming straight from having dialysis…People line up out the door because the need is so great.” –Miss Katherine, Poplar Springs Food Pantry
Recently their pastor gave the food pantry a check for $2,000 to allow them to buy more food. Miss Katherine expressed her sincere gratitude for such a significant gift, and said they will use it to help re-stock their shelves that have been picked bare.
But Mr. Levi, her right hand man at the food pantry, says that’s not entirely accurate. He says it’s no longer a re-stocking process. Instead, they are just trying to keep up with the need. “As fast as it comes in, it goes out. These days it’s just about serving as many people as we can.”
Poplar Springs is one of our partner agencies in Raleigh. Across our 34 counties we work with over 800 partner agencies to distribute food to over 651,000 people who are food insecure. In Wake County, over 134,000 people live in food insecure households.
