The Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry is inviting local residents to attend its annual meeting next month. The meeting will be held on Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the pantry’s location, 543 Frank Allen Road.
According to Fish and Loaves Executive Director Larry Morris, the meeting will provide attendees with an review of what the organization has achieved within the past year alongside any future plans that will be utilized for the rest of 2025.
“It’s going to be kind of an overview,” he said, “We’ll go over our budget for the 2025 year and also kind of a general report of what we’ve accomplished this past year with the innovations and things of that nature.
Morris added that the meeting will also serve as an opening for community members to offer their own input into the organization, which aims to serve the community by alleviating hunger in Western North Carolina and providing food distribution.
“I think we still we’re learning the process and how to do a little better job and you know, working with our clients that come through, our neighbors that come through, and how to do a better job from them,” he said.
For the rest of the year, Morris said that he hopes to team up with other organizations to further help people and learn more about potential resources that they might need.
“We’re going to try to get MANNA up here. Hopefully they will do some food demonstrations,” he said. “So, we want to do a little bit more of that in helping people to better use the products that we have and kind of learn what they need.”
Additionally, the group will also be utilizing the upcoming meeting as a means to invite local residents to get involved with the organization’s mission and initiative, according to Bonnie Grossman, social media coordinator for Fishes and Loves.
“Our board of directors will be there. We are hoping to acquire some new board members,” she said. “We’re looking for volunteers and board members in the community that would be willing to either participate on the board or just be lay people that can offer us guidance for moving forward with our newer facility.”
For those interested in volunteering with the organization, they can register online at fishesandloavescashiers.org. Alongside this, Fishes and Loaves will also be putting out a quarterly newsletter, which will provide updates on any future ongoings.
“We are at the pantry on Mondays and Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for distribution, so we would help with distribution,” Grossman. “Then every other Friday, we have a truck delivery from MANNA and so we also can use help unloading the truck on those Friday mornings.”