By Lauri Lee
Northside Economic Development Coalition

At The River Food Pantry, providing household stability impacts not only individuals and families: their vital work has an economic impact that strengthens the entire community.

The River moved into a Darwin Road warehouse to address the hunger of 100 Northside households per week in March 2006. The need has grown significantly. Since 2017, 1,000 households receive 65,000 pounds of food that fills two 53-foot trailers each week. Food, along with clothing, is distributed for children (40 percent), seniors (23 percent) and under-resourced individuals. A typical family of four saves around $500 a month on groceries. A tremendous stabilizing factor, this enables families to pay the rent, mortgage and utilities, as well as shop for other necessities at neighborhood businesses.

The power of community is harnessed to operate The River. Food, funds and friends are the three community resources needed to meet their mission. The people who use The River are part of the solution. They volunteer and help get the word out. In the past year, The River has provided 33,012 household visits, distributed 2.4 million pounds of food and 65,946 nutritional lunches to children and teens on non-school days and served 33,323 community meals. Every pantry session requires 25–30 volunteers and 50–70 volunteers for Friday night dinners. In all, over 45,000 volunteer hours were logged last year.

Andy and Jenny Czerkas founded The River and steered the organization during years of great need and growth. In 2017, the couple started a new chapter in their lives. Charles McLimans, a nonprofit executive for over 20 years, was chosen as the new CEO in April 2017 due to his track record of moving hunger relief organizations from serve to serve-and-solve. Rhonda Adams transitioned from operations manager to director of advancement to oversee development, communications and volunteers due to her people skills and leadership experience.

The metric for success at The River had always been to provide as much food as possible to address household food security. By solving hunger first, the new leadership’s measurement is to focus on how many households they’ve helped stabilize and how many people have become self-sufficient. The ultimate goal as they look to the future is to significantly decrease the number of households needing assistance.

To become a serve-and-solve organization, a strength-based appreciative inquiry strategic planning process that included the stakeholder voices of clients, volunteers, donors, community partners and community members was started in July 2017. The future direction of The River builds on strengths and focuses on the four pillars of household stability: food, housing, health and employment.

The River has been out of space for years in the old warehouse and they want to move to a larger and more adequate facility. They envision becoming a holistic services hub, providing food and connecting clients with other essential services that promote household stability. They have a need for more coolers, parking, office space, and rooms to hold private conversations with clients. Classroom space would allow service providers to offer on-site instruction, making it more efficient and convenient for people whose resources are already stretched beyond capacity.

Community partners and volunteers interested in helping The River move to the next chapter are encouraged to contact Charles McLimans at 442-8815 or charles@riverfoodpantry.org. The River is a not-for-profit, community-based organization that receives 100 percent of their annual revenue from private sources. They do not receive any government funding. Visit www.riverfoodpantry.org to volunteer, support or donate.