FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. — A local food pantry that feeds dozens of families weekly says it will have to find a new place to serve people.
Organizers say rising rent is forcing the Compassion Ministries Food Pantry to move a day before Thanksgiving.
Channel 2′s Tom Jones spoke to people who get food from the pantry every week.
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“It’s a Godsend,” one man said.
An elderly man pulled up to the pantry on Johnson Avenue in Fayetteville with his wife.
“The pantry here has been a real blessing for both of us,” he said.
The pantry has been handing out meals to families since April and consistently feeding at least 30 families a week. An expectant mother drove up and watched as volunteers stocked her car with food.
“I just want everybody to know how grateful I am for them to be here doing this and helping me and my family and my unborn child,” she said with a thankful smile.
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Now, the pantry is close to serving its last meal at this location.
“We have to find a new location. We have to be out of here the day before Thanksgiving,” Executive Director Diana Galloway told one family picking up food.
Galloway has had to inform all of her clients the pantry will have to find a new home.
It’s been operating out of the 11th Hour Call Ministries Church. The pastor of the church says she’s forced to move.
“We just have not been able to come up to the level of the rent,” Pastor Wanda Hawkins revealed.
People picking up meals say with inflation and rising food prices, it will be tough to survive without the pantry. Families picking up food weren’t happy to hear that.
“I think it’s kind of sad because there really are people that need help,” Shelby Marr pointed out.
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Inside the pantry, volunteers worked to stock food in boxes and out to waiting cars.
Whitney Galloway says demand is so high they ran out of food on this day. She showed a large shelve that was nearly empty.
“As you can see the food is gone,” Whitney Galloway said.
Diana Galloway says they don’t have the funds to pay for another building. She hopes the community will step in and help.
“We’re gonna do the best we can until we find another location,” she said.
The church and the pantry say they aren’t angry at the property owner. They want to make that clear. They’re just concerned with finding a new building to continue handing out meals to those in need.
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