Next in our series of posts about new Charitocracy OBX nominees, we have nominee Beach Food Pantry, nominated by donor obxlisa. They provide free groceries to individuals and families in our community who have been affected by a temporary crisis or emergency. You can find their web site here.
A few words on Charitocracy
Firstly, for newcomers: here's how it works. Donors pool their monthly contributions, as little as $1. The cause with the most votes each month wins the pot. No matter how much or how little you contribute, each donor at Charitocracy gets one vote. This is where charity meets democracy. So please share this post (see social sharing icons at top of post) and ask your friends to join us and vote! That's how we spread the word and, as a result, grow the monthly pot. The bigger the pot, the bigger our positive impact on the world!
About nominee Beach Food Pantry
We offer hope to the estimated 5,680 people in Dare County who are food insecure - 1,550 of whom are children. And, we offer our commitment - to every Dare County resident - that we will be prepared to do our part should our Outer Banks community ever be affected by a natural event.
The Beach Food Pantry (BFP) was organized by a few local religious organizations in 1989. In 1992, the BFP incorporated. In 2004, we became an IRS Tax Exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Over the years, the BFP has been located at St. Andrews by the Sea Episcopal Church and Holy Trinity in Nags Head; the Emergency Medical Services station in Kill Devil Hills; Southern Shores; and various locations in Kitty Hawk. In January 2016, we moved to our new permanent home at 4007 North Croatan Highway in Kitty Hawk.
The BFP operates under a set of bylaws with our primary mission to help fight hunger and poverty of residents of Dare County by providing temporary assistance of food, and information regarding other services to alleviate hunger and poverty. We have a 13-member Board of Directors, with a four-member Executive Committee, and an Executive Director. We are supported by a 16-member local church and civic organizational structure which helps staff the pantry, volunteers who assist by picking up donations from retail stores, and over 300 total volunteers who support the Pantry through some form of volunteer service. We also have numerous individual, organizations, businesses, religious entities, and corporations which contribute food and money to us regularly to help support our mission. Along with donations from community food drives, religious organizations, businesses, philanthropic groups, and individual citizens, we purchase a large amount of food and other items from the Food Bank of the Albemarle. Once a month, we are supplemented with product from the State Nutritional Aid Program (SNAP). Additionally, we receive meat, produce, baked goods, dairy, and other items at a minimal per pound cost from the Southern Shores, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head Food Lions and Fresh Market in Nags Head.
The people and families that we serve are given a minimum two-week supply of food based on family size. We provide temporary assistance up to four times a year, with a minimum of 30 days required between visits. In 2014, we were named Outer Banks Non-Profit of the Year through the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce Non-Profit of the Year Program. We are an affiliate of Feeding America and the Food Bank of the Albemarle, and are members of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, North Carolina Center for Non-Profits and NC Tech 4 Good.
So check out this slideshow presentation which, despite being 4 years old now, really captures how big a part of our community BFP is. Then please visit the page of Beach Food Pantry to vote for, like, or discuss this cause!