How it started…
The History of Food for Families began in 2012 as mission outreach by First Baptist Church of Indian Trail after parishioners identified a genuine community need to send nutritious food home for hungry students over the weekend. Local teachers recognized 20 underserved and underrepresented students from 3 local Union County Public Schools (UCPS) who were famished when they came to school on Mondays.
Church members collected food, stored it in a nearby warehouse, and delivered backpacks of food for the disadvantaged children to area schools. The necessity for basic food aid increased rapidly, storage space for donated food products quickly outgrew the initial rented warehouse, and incrementally more students from other schools also were identified as being at-risk of hunger.
By the 2014-2015 academic year Backpack Ministry, Inc. was initiated as the 501 (c)(3) non-profit - under the assumed name (dba) of Food for Families NC. At that time Backpack Ministry Inc. served 4 schools and its volunteers packed over 16,000 bags for local, needy children.
As the number of students continued to increase, the existing warehouse space was no longer viable and Food for Families, along with private donors, private foundations, and local businesses, was able to purchase a larger warehouse at 4393 Indian Trail Fairview Road in October 2018. The additional warehouse space allowed Food for Families to expand services in 2018-2019 to Anson County Schools and serve 19 different public schools in Union and Anson Counties. Over 1,400 volunteer hours made this happen!
The 2019-2020 school year was like no other. From September – mid March, we operated as normal – sending approximately 700-750 bags of food home weekly with students in as many as 25 different public schools in Union and Anson Counties. However, when the schools were closed in Mid-March due to COVID-19, the need for food drastically increased.
During the first 11 weeks of quarantine, we distributed an average of 1,118 bags/boxes of food per week to families in as many as 45 different public schools in Union and Anson Counties. The total bags/boxes of food distributed during the 2019-2020 school year was 29,193. It took over 2,900 volunteer hours to accomplish this influx of students.
The effects of COVID-19 continued in the 2020-2021 school year as many of our students did not attend school “in-person” to receive food. We also saw the increased need for food for the entire family as many had suffered financial and job losses during this time. Because of this, our mission evolved to providing more than just “weekend food”. We began coordinating weekly home deliveries with the help of social workers, school staff, and volunteers.
In 2020, we were selected by Second Harvest Food Bank for transitioning from a Backpack Program to distributing TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) and as a result Food for Families put nearly 400,000 pounds of food into the community and were recognized by our Partnering Agency Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina for our hard work to feed so many in Union and Anson Counties.
In 2021, we received and distributed over 500,000 pounds of food including 150,000 pounds of frozen and refrigerated food. Our participation in the TEFAP program brought our focus to providing high nutritional value foods, including meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. This program was so successful a larger space was needed to accommodate the higher volume of food received and distributed into our community.
How it’s going…
Food for Families received a grant from the State of North Carolina in 2022 that provided the opportunity to purchase our current 12,000 square foot facility at 2001 Van Buren Avenue in Indian Trail. This warehouse was remodeled and upfitted with a 16’ X 18’ freezer and an 18’ X 20’ refrigerator. In 2023 Food for Families expanded our backpack program into Mecklenburg County, began providing bags of supplemental food to Seniors 65+ in our area, hosting large one-day mobile distribution sites in Union and Anson Counties, and stocking the Paw Provisions student pantry at Wingate University.
In 2023 Food for Families was again recognized by Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina for an 86% increase of food distributed (over 2022) to the food insecure in our community. This tremendous growth is only possible with our dedicated volunteers (currently over 110+ per week) and the financial support of our private donors and generous, socially aware businesses and foundations that recognize the importance and benefit of eradicating hunger in our area.
There has never been a need placed in front of Food for Families that has not been met-and we intend to maintain that course-JOIN US as we continue “Feeding Families, Changing Lives’
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