March is National Nutrition Month. Here at the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, it’s also the anniversary of when we hired our first Nutrition Education Manager: Sara Clement, RD, LDN. In March 2017 Sara joined our new Community Health and Engagement Department, and quickly set to work infusing health and nutrition into [...]
Tackling the meal gap Last year Food Bank CENC distributed 70 million pounds of food across our 34-county service area. That equates to nearly 59 million meals for neighbors in need. Food distributed by Food Bank CENC is fiscal year 2016-17 Despite these record highs for our organization, we know there is still [...]
A few years back, staff at the Warren-Vance Community Health Center (WVCHC) in Henderson began noticing a troubling trend at their HIV clinic. Patients who had been doing well, and achieved suppressed viral loads (a measurement of successful treatment), were suddenly taking a turn and experiencing viral load increases. About 200 of WVCHC’s patients are [...]
Hunger is a serious problem in Food Bank CENC’s 34-county service area year-round, but the holidays are an exceptionally difficult time to be without. The Food Bank works with our more than 800 community partner agencies to distribute millions of pounds of food each year, and we know it’s still not enough. Fortunately, this December [...]
Santa Claus isn’t the only one with a special delivery this December. LaSonia Melvin of Wilmington’s Union Missionary Baptist Church is also responsible for a big trip with an important mission. But instead of a sleigh flying around the world, she coordinated a special tractor trailer transport to our Raleigh Branch to pick up more [...]
When the summer heat (finally!) starts to break, that means one thing in North Carolina: Back to School. In the hunger relief world, we know that’s a good thing. Nearly 300,000 children in our 34-county service area rely on the free and reduced-cost meals at school to get them through the day. But the excitement [...]
On the first Tuesday of every month we send a truck full of fresh food to Warsaw Baptist Church, one of our partner agencies in Warsaw. That morning, Pastor David Gasperson, the coordinator of the Warsaw Baptist Church Food Pantry, gathers between 16 and 30 volunteers to put together grocery bags for more than 160 families in [...]
When you come home from the grocery store, where do you put your perishable food? Could you pick up a gallon of milk, some frozen chicken, or a carton of yogurt without having a refrigerator or freezer at home? As consumers, we know the critical value of having reliable appliances to help us keep food [...]
By Erin O'Donnell, Wilmington Outreach Coordinator On a quiet street a few blocks south from the heart of downtown Wilmington you’ll find Tileston Outreach, one of our partner agencies that gives food, clothes, basic health services, and furniture to 160 people in need every week. When you fall on really hard times, this is the place [...]
Meet Tony and Kathy. They run the food pantry at Hope of Glory Ministries, one of our partner agencies in Greenville. They provide food to more than 70 families every month. But they don't stop there--They also help teach people life skills like personal finance to help them get back on their feet. Tony and Kathy stand [...]