When Richmond Emergency Food Pantry first began distributing groceries to neighbors facing hunger in 1971, volunteers had plenty of time to fill. In that first year, it was common for only two or three households to come by to pick up food per day.
But that slow pace didn’t last long. Today, the Pantry provides fresh produce and other nutritious staples to about 150 households each day it is open – around 1,200 each month – and the Pantry’s volunteer team is in constant motion.
“It used to be that if we had 150 (households) show up we were scrambling, and now we almost never have under 150,” says Bonnie Whitler, who has served on the Pantry’s board for more than 20 years. “The cost of food is so high. A lot of people can’t keep up with it.”
While a lot has changed over the past five decades, there’s one constant that continues to make an incredible difference: The support of hunger fighters like you, in partnership with the Food Bank.
Growing together
Since our founding in 1975, the Food Bank has partnered with food pantries, soup kitchens and other local nonprofits to ensure that nourishing food reaches every corner of our community. And Richmond Emergency Food Pantry has been by our side from the beginning.
Just as the Food Bank has grown thanks to your support, the pantry has grown too. Over the decades hunger fighters like you have helped provide refrigeration equipment, so fresh proteins and dairy products can be accepted and stored on site. And when the Food Bank began helping agencies partner with local retailers to rescue unsold food, the Pantry was one of the first to sign up.
Bonnie recalls that some foods the pantry regularly distributes now were almost unheard of when she first started with the Pantry. “Meat was a total rarity. We would set our budget so that we could buy meat of some kind in November and December, so families could have meat during the holiday.”
Now, through its partnership with the Food Bank, the Pantry is able to access a much wider variety of food options – including free food from USDA through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). That means more variety, and more nourishing options, for people facing hunger.
“It’s been the lifeblood,” Bonnie says of our ongoing partnerships. “We’ve been partners since day one, and since the Food Bank came in, I think things have gotten better and better.”
Your impact matters – no matter the decade
Patricia Davidson, who has served as the Pantry’s manager since the 1990s, has felt the impact of hunger-fighters like you herself. She first came to Richmond Emergency to help with her own tight household budget.
“After I paid all the bills I think we had $8 left a month,” she recalls. “I had to go buy new jeans for my son, and the jeans cost $8 plus tax. I didn’t have money for tax and I cried in the store… A friend said, “Why don’t you go get free food?”
The paper bag of food she received each time she visited the Pantry helped her make ends meet until her household finances stabilized, and took some of the pressure out of a stressful time in her life. Decades later, she says it’s still meaningful to see the Pantry have that same impact on other Richmond families facing hunger.
“It’s a humbling thing. Sometimes you don’t really know how it’s affecting people,” she says. “I had a girl who was coming here for six or eight months… later, she came up to me and said, ‘You saved me.’”
YOUR SUPPORT TOUCHES EVERY CORNER OF OUR COMMUNITY
When you give to the Food Bank, you’re also helping to support our network of 260+ food pantries, soup kitchens and other hunger fighting nonprofits, like Richmond Emergency Food Pantry. Together, we’re making sure healthy, fresh food gets where it’s needed most.
