Feeding the Valley, Food Lion partner in food distribution

DAWSON — Food Lion volunteers will participate in a mobile pantry food distribution at Raines Baptist Church, 577 Orange St. NE in Dawson at 10 a.m. Wednesday and serve families in the Terrell County area in celebration of Food Lion Feeds’ Great Pantry Makeover.

In September 2023, Food Lion Feeds announced that Raines Baptist Church was the recipient of a Great Pantry Makeover grant. The grant was used to help remodel the church’s food pantry, which is housed in a 200-year-old house in Dawson. New appliances, worktables, flooring, and fresh paint were part of the makeover to help make the food pantry more up-to-date, functional, and a safer workspace for food pantry volunteers.

Raines Baptist Church Food Pantry has been a Feeding the Valley Partner Agency since 2022 and has provided more than 71,000 meals to families facing hunger in the Terrell County area.

Food Lion Feeds also delivered two pallets of non-perishable groceries for the food pantry to distribute to families in the Terrell County area.

“We are honored and appreciative of Food Lion’s support,” Raymond Andrews of Raines Baptist Church said. “This grant is a milestone for us and will enable us to enhance our kitchen facility and expand our capacity to provide nutritious meals to families in need.”

Food Lion Feeds remodeled and stocked the shelves of 27 food pantries across its operating area to provide sustainable and impactful solutions to support their work to expand access to nutritional food and address food insecurity.

“We were happy when Raines Baptist Church started a food pantry and became a Partner Agency of Feeding the Valley in 2022 because Terrell County has a high food insecurity rate,” Carleen Frokjer with Feeding the Valley Food Bank said. “The Food Lion Feeds grant to Raines Baptist Church is a game-changer for them. They now have a more functional and safer workspace for their volunteers who help every month with food distribution.

“This is a wonderful gift to their ministry and will help them distribute food to families facing hunger much more efficiently. We are grateful for Food Lion’s commitment to serve their communities.

As part of its annual The Great Pantry Makeover event, Food Lion Feeds provided more than 850 volunteer hours in its largest associate volunteer initiative. It also donated more than $310,000, equivalent to 3.1 million meals. Food Lion Feeds was founded in 2014 by Food Lion to address food insecurity in the towns and cities it serves.

“Through Food Lion Feeds, we nourish our communities by identifying and developing relationships with our partner food banks,” Kevin Durkee, manager of Food Lion Feeds for Food Lion, said. “At Food Lion, giving back to our communities is as meaningful as serving our customers. Our associates believe in the value of volunteer work. By being partners in action, our volunteer Food Lion associates offer immediate and long-term solutions to address food insecurity in the towns and cities we serve.”

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