Food pantries in Roanoke and beyond are responding to a surge in demand, some with a shift to new models.
Last month’s release of the inaugural Virginia Hunger Survey found 42% of state households were food insecure. That number spikes to 55% in Southwest Virginia – and 70% among regional families with children.
The Lion’s Share Food Pantry and Clothing Closet at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church has seen a surge in new clients over the last couple of years.
“Just to be here every week, it’s like constantly busier," says Jacob Gordon, the coordinator of Lion’s Share.
Gordon says the food pantry serves just under 170 families each week.
“That number is up about 20% over last year," he says. "Last year was up about 20% over the year before.”
Gordon says the rising cost of living likely contributes to that surge. But so does Lion’s Share’s shift three years ago, from a traditional, once-a-month food pantry to a weekly client-choice model.
“There’s a lot of need out there," Gordon says. "I never know how much of in a given week the increase is because there are more folks seeking help or more folks found out about us. It doesn’t matter, we’re going to help them either way.”
That started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the food pantry’s model was already shaken up. Lion’s Share received a shipment of fresh produce from Wheatland Evangelical Lutheran Church in Buchanan. They weren’t sure what to do with it, so Gordon suggested they just put it on a table in the parking lot for people to take what they needed.
“It just worked," he says. "We were like take what you want, people took stuff, it lasted the whole time we were open. … I remember standing in the church and saying, wouldn’t it be amazing if people came in and pick out what they wanted.”
That sparked the change.
Now, people enter and wait until they’re checked in, then visit a former Sunday school classroom outfitted with refrigerators and shelves, and choose from an array of canned goods, milk, eggs and fresh produce.
The produce comes partly from community gardens, and also from Roanoke Fruit & Produce, purchased with a grant from the Roanoke Women’s Foundation.
Lion's Share Food Pantry and Clothing Closet is open Monday evenings and Friday mornings.
