Catherine Mitchell, a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill, checks the list of groceries for a local mother and her two children at the IFC Food Pantry on West Main Street in Carrboro. Photo by Emily Burns
By Emily Burns
Carrboro Commons Staff Writer
Every year, the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services’s Holiday Meals program provides hundreds of disadvantaged families in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area with food and supplies for their own Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
“Food is the issue of the day,†said Kristin Lavergne, community services director for the IFC. “If someone has taken that step to come see us, they are usually really in need.â€
During the holiday season, the IFC accepts donations of food and money to provide traditional dishes such as turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, rolls and pies to clients who enroll in the Holiday Meals program.
This year, clients were asked to sign up for a Thanksgiving meal by Nov. 9 so that IFC staff and volunteers would have ample time to collect and package the food for each family. The week of Thanksgiving, clients who enrolled in the program will come to the IFC’s Food Pantry, located at 110 W. Main St. in Carrboro, and take several bags of groceries home with them.
In December, the IFC will continue the Holiday Meals program, and Lavergne said she hopes the IFC will be able to have enough food and money to create another 450 meals by Christmas.
While the holiday season provides a great opportunity for members of the community to reach out to those who are less fortunate, Lavergne said it’s important to remember that people need to eat all year long.
“We need food year-round, and we need volunteers year-round,†Lavergne said. “We have a fairly small staff, and we value our partnerships with volunteers.â€
Mariana Fiorentino, broker owner for Terra Nova Global Properties and member of The Community Church of Chapel Hill, spends one Wednesday morning a month cooking a meal at the IFC Community Kitchen, which is located at the corner of West Rosemary Street and North Columbia Street in Chapel Hill.
“We go to the shelter and prepare the meal in the shelter,†said Fiorentino, who has been involved with the Community Kitchen since 2003. “We also collect for the food pantry at church as part of our Social Concerns Outreach Committee.â€
According to Fiorentino, there is not always enough food at the shelter during some months of the year.
“We try to have a really good protein dish, a starch, a few different vegetables, fruit salad, green salad, bread and desserts,†Fiorentino said. “The biggest challenge we have over there is when the schools are closed and there isn’t a lot of food.â€
The Aramark Corporation, which provides most of the food to UNC’s dining halls, also does what it can to keep food coming into the community kitchen.
According to Fred Bissinger, district manager for Aramark at Carolina Dining Services, Aramark and CDS have a long-standing agreement with the IFC to provide leftover food and other supplies to the community kitchen whenever possible.
“It’s a good use of the leftovers for both of us,†Bissinger said, “It’s a win-win situation.â€
For more information about how you or your organization can get involved with the IFC, visit the IFC’s website, www.ifcweb.org.