Source of Hope Food Pantry started as a result of a trip Pastor Frank took to Myrtle Beach, where he met several homeless people living in a park with no food and no clothing, and it touched his heart. He came back to Source Church and talked to the congregation about it.
From there, the church started hosting community dinners. However, the community was not coming to get food. So one of the ladies in our church decided that we needed to bring the food to the people. She and a few others would stand on the corner down Sir Walter Raleigh Street passing out soups, loaves of bread, and desserts. At that time, the youth group began to help as well. The outcome, food donations started to come in to help provide for this outreach. And thus, the Source of Hope Food Pantry was started. When it first started, it wasn’t one person. There were many participants.
Although we were able to feed a lot of people, we still had a lot of food leftover. So we took it to the Bay Tree residents and that’s how the Bay Tree Ministry started.
The first donation to the food pantry was bread, and that’s where we started. Since then, it has blossomed, and the community support has been amazing, and still is! The Beach Food Pantry has also been instrumental in helping us get our start in our area since Manteo residents didn’t have the means to get over to the Beach Food Pantry in Kitty Hawk. Several grocery stores have also blessed our pantry with their weekly donations. There are also many private donators as well as local restaurants that donate items that are mostly used for community dinners.
Not only do we serve individuals and families, but we also sow into several other ministries and organizations, such as Dare Challenge, Hosea House, Rooms in the Inn, Bay Tree Senior Living, recovery homes on the beach, Bethany’s Table in Wanchese, Hotline, the police department, and others.
Through donations and the amazing volunteers, the Source of Hope Food Pantry has really thrived in our little Manteo community. Everyone who has directed the food pantry and all those who have volunteered has built onto it in their own special way. It has grown from a closet to a larger room where we have 3 large deep freezers and two refrigerators. There’s also a deep freezer in another room for overflow.