Beach Food Pantry

In 2023, the Beach Food Pantry had 9 distribution methods to get Food to hungry and/or Food insecure individuals experiencing a crisis or emergency situation in dare county, nc: 1) client-choice, myplate-aligned Food Pantry services - our flagship program, provided at our kitty hawk Pantry, provides 2 weeks of free groceries, based on family size. The Pantry is open monday through friday from 2-4 pm, excluding major holidays. In 2023, we served 4,290 individuals(2,124 households)through this program. This was approximately the equivalent of 180,180 meals. 2) online ordering - for individuals that are unable to come during our regular distribution hours due to work or parental/childcare obligations, or that cannot store 2 weeks of Food at a time, we offer online ordering. Clients may pick up their prepacked order at our main office monday - friday from 8 am - 5 pm. In 2023, we served 322 individuals (116 households) through this program. 3) mobile Pantry special events - transportation to our office is a challenge for some of our clients as there is limited public transportation in our county. We have a van so that we could take Food out to areas of highest need. We did this monthly with a primarily produce-focused event at the manteo branch of the dare county public library starting in april 2023. We served over 100 households at each of these events. 4) mass text distribution special events - in an effort to better serve our clients and reduce our waste, the Pantry also offers special "mass text distributions" when there is extra Food to share. A text message is sent to all clients from the calendar year so far alerting them to the opportunity. It is a more limited amount of Food per visit, but it does not count toward their annual maximum number of visits. The Pantry varies the days and times of these messages. 5)summer Food for kids 2023 - the Beach Food Pantry continued the program for 16 weeks this year. Because the school-based summer meals returned to an on-site requirement, it was not a viable option for most families. Transportation was an issue. In addition, parents working during our peak season would have to leave work to get their children to the school site during a short window of time and wait while their child ate the meal. So, we encouraged them to use that resource, but it was not a requirement to participate in our program. There were two potential methods for receiving Food and parents could pick whichever option worked best for them week to week. Parents could pick up at our main office monday - friday from 8 am-5 pm. For all points south of Oregon inlet, we continued offering delivery to their front door or office. We also launched delivery to manteo, wanchese, manns harbor and stumpy point. Once again this year, parents ordered online and we were able to offer eggs, produce, dairy, meats, etc. That we otherwise could not have offered. 4,943 individuals (1,209 households) were served through this program. 6) holiday meals - in 2023, we provided 680 households (1,830 individuals) bags of groceries geared towards holiday meals for individuals that otherwise would not have been able to provide a meal for their families. We continued offering an online ordering process for this service as well. Therefore, we were able to offer perishable product such as produce. Further, we were able to offer additional culturally-appropriate foods and products for restricted diets. 7) in 2023, we continued to provide delivery for individuals that were elderly and otherwise shut-in. 8) produce stands - we have a set of produce stands in the front parking lot. As extra produce becomes available through donations or purchases, or to prevent waste before we are closed for extended holidays, we put it in the stands under a tent. We send out a mass text and post it on social media. No application or appointment is needed, and people in need can come and get as much as they can use during the times specified, or while supplies last, whichever comes first. 9) Pantry garden - we have a community garden on donated land with four raised beds built by volunteers. We grow complementary produce items that we know clients enjoy, but we do not get through donations, like okra. We also grow some unusual items, like chinese eggplant, to allow clients to try new things and get them excited about fresh produce. The garden is not enclosed, so if a client was unable to come during our regular business hours, but needed some emergency Food to get through, they could pick what they needed. Finally, though not a distribution method, we also offer Food & nutrition supplement (fns) outreach. If clients are not receiving fns benefits, we can provide an appliation and/or assist them in filling out the application and getting it to social services. We also connect clients to other resources in the community that may be able to help them through this time of crisis and get back to self-sufficiency.