Nonprofits More Room at the Table

FeedNC settles into its new home

BY BECKY AIJALA | PHOTOGRAPHPHY BY JON BEYERLE

Spacious and welcoming, abuzz with participants and volunteers, FeedNC’s brand-new facility on Charlotte Highway in Mooresville is already in use and gearing up for its grand opening. Once the doors open, anyone — yes, anyone — is welcome to stop by and have a made-to-order meal free of charge, while getting to know other members of the Lake Norman community.

The kitchen at Donoghue’s Open Door is already in operation, where breakfast and lunch are served and nutritious dishes: Gorgonzola & Pear Salad, Donoghue’s Shepherd Pie, the Mediterranean Bowl, the Tarheel Chicken Sandwich. Meals are prepared and served by volunteers including students in the organization’s Culinary Workforce Development program. It’s just one of many projects underway supporting FeedNC’s overall goal of “creating connections to food, education and resources as a catalyst for change.”

Lara Ingram, Executive Director, social worker and selfdescribed “cat-herder, at times,” is in the thick of the process, getting orders out and strategizing to make the operation work optimally.

Until last March, the 32-year-old organization had been located on South Broad Street in Mooresville and was only about one-third the size. It took “reinventing space several times a day,” says Ingram, but they managed to provide all the routine services including hot meals, groceries and workforce training programs.

Here, the programs now have permanent classrooms and a teaching kitchen, and there’s precious warehouse space. In the past, a truckload of dry goods offered for donation might have been refused for lack of storage, but “we’ll never have to say no again,” Ingram says.

Over in Grassroots Grocery, people are shopping by appointment. It looks much like any commercial grocery store, with canned goods, fresh produce, bread and a refrigerated section, except that there are volunteers donating their time instead of hired cashiers.

“The one thing there never seems to be enough of is fresh produce; it’s expensive, and harder to keep,” Ingram says. To help fill that need, Mimi’s Garden, a one one-acre produce site is in the works, to supply both Donoghue’s and Grassroots with fresh, nutritious food.

How is all this possible? Through donations, including those received in partnership with Second Harvest Foodbank, and by volunteers. “People’s lives are changed here every day,” Ingram says.

So far in 2023, more than 600 individuals have volunteered, many of them volunteering multiple times each week, with additional volunteer applications pending. It’s a selfless way to give back to the community.

To donate, volunteer or apply for services, visit www.feednc. org, or call 704.660.9010. FeedNC’s new facility is at 2456 Charlotte Highway, Mooresville.