Food is Love | How to Get Involved

The Rev. Emily Parker
Oct 29
3 min read

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled.

– Mark 6:41-42

At Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte, feeding people body, mind, and spirit has always been a clear calling at the heart of our ministry. We have two food pantries onsite: a longtime Nourish Up pantry and Lydia’s Pantry, which is Galilee’s emergency, stopgap pantry for when the other pantry is not open. These pantries, and the volunteers that run them, work in conjunction with each other to serve neighbors in need.

We can plainly see from the numbers of food insecure neighbors coming to Galilee, the need for food is increasing. And there is real uncertainty about whether Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for November will arrive on time, at full amount, or arrive at all.

According to an October 27 press release from NC Department of Health and Human Services, “More than 600,000 households comprising 1.4 million individual North Carolinians are due to receive SNAP benefits to help put nutritious and healthy food on the table in November. Four in five North Carolina families participating in SNAP have either a child, senior or an adult with a disability. There are more than 580,000 children in North Carolina that rely on SNAP and more than 80% of people receiving SNAP benefits are working.”

Nourish Up released a message yesterday saying in part, “In Mecklenburg County alone, nearly 140,000 people rely on SNAP each month to put food on the table. To put that in perspective, Nourish Up served 164,000 people over the course of an entire year.”

At an overwhelmed and precarious time like this, I remember hearing a friend say that an antidote to anxiety is action. I would add that another antidote is focusing on abundance and what we can impact locally. If you feel called to join, act, and feed, here are a few ways:

To help keep Galilee’s two pantries stocked, click here to access a food donations wish list to have donations shipped directly to Galilee. We could also use household supplies (e.g., inexpensive can openers, dish soap, paper towels, toilet paper) and diapers of various sizes.

If you prefer to bring donations to church, leave items in the bin in the Rotunda. If you would like to bring donations directly to Galilee (Monday - Thursday from 10 am - 2 pm) we are located at 3601 Central Avenue. If you need to come outside of those hours, call ahead 704-900-5210. I would love to see you there!

Host a food collection drive for shelf stable items in your neighborhood, at your office, with your book club, Mahjong group, or any other group you are part of!
Join Galilee’s Food is Love Community Lunch. The next two free lunches are scheduled for November 18 and December 16, both starting at 11:30 am.
If you would like to host a Food is Love Community Lunch in 2026, let me know. It’s a wonderful way to feed the community and meet neighbors!
The Nourish Up pantry at Galilee is in need of volunteers on Mondays from 11:45 am – 1:30 pm, Tuesdays from 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm, or Thursday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm.

Contact me at parkere@christchurchcharlotte.org or EDGalileeEast@gmail.com or Laura Konitzer konitzerl@christchurchcharlotte.org with questions or for more information.