Fallbrook Food Pantry opens new, bigger site

FALLBROOK – The Fallbrook Food Pantry welcomed community members in need of nutritional support to their new location Monday, Sept. 23. Located at 140 North Brandon Road, the pantry purchased a building that is more than twice the size of the previous rented building on South Mission. The increased size means more community members can be assisted, more food distributed and more programs implemented to support those in need.

Community members donated numerous hours in preparation for, during and in the completion of the move.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17, at 9 a.m. All community members are welcome to join in this celebration.

The pantry is open daily to serve the community Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Each week over 500 families participate in this program. In addition to regular clients, individuals and families with emergency food needs are welcome. Special programs such as Neighborhood Distribution serve another 200 plus families each month. Annual food distribution is just below 1 million pounds.

With support from a generous grant from Thrivent Financial, the pantry will be able to host "Cooking Matters" classes at the new site. These classes teach community members cooking techniques as well as various ways of cooking the food that the pantry distributes. It is expected that this program will be fully operational in early 2020.

Community members are encouraged to continue their support of the Fallbrook Food Pantry by donating food items, making a financial contribution or volunteering to serve clients. More information about Food Pantry programs and services or about how to help may be found at fallbrookfoodpantry.org.

Submitted by Fallbrook Food Pantry.