Local Food Bank in Peril

God's Pantry needs an angel.

The Mauldin-based food bank — which serves thousands of needy individuals and families at 14 pantries in Greenville, Laurens, and Spartanburg counties — will be forced to move its combined operations center and warehouse by the end of November. The center, located in The Trinity Building on Old Stage Road in Simpsonville, has been sold and the food bank must find a new home soon — or face an uncertain future, said executive assistant Wendy Huckaby.

While moving is not exactly new to God's Pantry, it is getting tiring — and expensive. 

Founded exactly 10 years ago, through the auspices of Messiah Lutheran Church, the pantry has grown greatly over the years, requiring three moves — each of which cost the non-profit about $20,000 each time. That's money that would be better spent feeding the needy, said Huckaby. As a result, this time the food bank is hoping to find a building it can purchase, instead of lease. It needs a permanent home, she said.

But that costs money. Financing construction of the type of space the pantry needs could cost upwards of $400,000 at a minimum, "and that's not really an amount of money we can come up with," said Huckaby.

The pantry, founded by executive director Tom Williams, does have a lead on at least a couple of existing buildings, but they remain problematical. One such building, located on Old Mill Road in Mauldin, would require at least $100,000 just to install a fire sprinkler system, not to mention other improvements to get the building up to code. Another building on Poinsett Highway in Greenville also would require about the same amount of money to move in, Huckaby said.

If push came to shove, the pantry could use a gymnasium at one of its supporting churches, but that would most likely require a daily setup and breakdown beyond the abilities of the pantry's all-volunteer workforce to handle, Huckaby said.

"What we need is a benefactor to crawl out of the woodwork," she laughed. Huckaby said the pantry has people out looking for spaces, and the pantry also has applied for a number of grants it hopes it will receive to help it buy its own space — though nothing is for certain at this point.

So what type of building would the pantry need? At a minimum, God's Pantry needs a building between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet, with two offices and at least one loading dock. In a best-case scenario, it would prefer a space with up to 30,000 square feet of warehouse space, four offices, and as many as 3 loading docks, one of them adjustable to handle different-sized trucks, Huckaby said. In addition, any building would need to be handicapped-accessible, since many users are people with disabilities, Huckaby said.

Because it serves so many food banks over a sizable geographic region, God's Pantry is not a small-volume enterprise — and its dilemma comes at a most inopportune time. Already this year, God's Pantry has served more than 100,000 people — and its busy season is just about to get underway as the holidays approach. 

"About a quarter or one-half of our business comes between the first of October and the end of December," Huckaby said.

In the meantime, Huckaby remains hopeful. God's Pantry has faced hard times before, and has always, somehow, managed to survive.

"There have been many times since I've been with the organization that it seemed like we were down and out and we were going to have to close our doors … and out of nowhere, God [provided]," she said. "We have wonderful, wonderful donors and supporters and, if we can find something, I know we'll be able to get everyone to step up to the plate to make sure we can remain in service."

Want to help out? In addition to food donations and volunteer help, God's Pantry could use your monetary donations, or leads on possible property. Contact them at 864-963-4441. And visit their Web site HERE.