Food Lion Feeds Great Pantry Makeover

Food Lion Feeds recently hosted their annual Great Pantry Makeover event—and this year, two Maryland Food Bank partners, Soul Harvest (Baltimore) and Delmarva Evangelistic Church (Salisbury), were two of 60 lucky feeding agencies to win. The grants from Food Lion Feeds will ultimately help build the partners’ pantry’s capacity to store and distribute nutritious food to their respected communities.

In honor of Food Lion’s 60th anniversary, Food Lion selected 60 pantries to receive a “great pantry makeover.” These one-day makeovers aim to provide local pantries with the resources needed to feed more individuals in their communities.

This year, two of Maryland Food Bank’s nominees – Delmarva Evangelistic Church in Salisbury and Soul Harvest in Baltimore City – were selected for pantry makeovers. Our partners collectively received nearly $9,000 in capacity building efforts and more than 10,000 pounds of nutritious food from Food Lion.

Delmarva Evangelistic Church’s Pantry Makeover

Over the past two years, Delmarva Evangelistic Church’s Pantry Coordinator, Tina Kovach has seen a major increase in need in her community.

“We’ve had the great pleasure to be open two times a month, serving all types of people,” said Kovach. “There’s been a lot more seniors, grandparents taking care of their grandchildren, and single moms visiting our pantry.”

With more people to serve at her church, Kovach was heartbroken when one of her pantry’s freezers broke, and all the food inside went to waste. The makeover could not have come at a better time.

On the day of the pantry makeover, a dozen volunteers from Food Lion installed shelves, a refrigerator, and four new freezers – which they then stocked with more than 7,000 pounds of food. These updates will help Kovach double the amount of meals her pantry can serve.

“It’s awesome to see the community pull together to feed their community,” said Kovach. “I was amazed that this makeover could happen in one day. You know, it’s nice to see there is still some good in the world.”

Soul Harvest’s Pantry Makeover

At Soul Harvest, pantry coordinator Wanda Galloway and Pastor Griffin pride themselves on being able to help people, but limited space makes it hard to serve all the clients they’d like to.

Needless to say, they were thrilled when they received the call that they had won a pantry makeover.

“This is going to take us to a new level with what we can do for our community,” said Galloway.

“It’s going to make everything better – for us and for our clients. When our clients come in tomorrow, they’ll be over the moon.”

With a new freezer, refrigerator, shelving units, and a fresh coat of paint from Food Lion volunteers, Galloway and Griffin are prepared to increase their distribution by 40 percent.

“Charm City hasn’t lost all its charm,” said Pastor Griffin. “It’s great to see organizations – Food Lion, the Maryland Food Bank, Soul Harvest – working together to do good in this city.”