CORA to launch August’s ‘Hunger Heroes’ food drive

Posted
Updated:

En español

PITTSBORO — Starting next week, CORA — the Chatham Outreach Alliance — will launch its “Hunger Heroes” month-long food drive to collect popular food items for the pantry.

The event, for which the News + Record is a sponsor, begins Aug. 1 and continues throughout the month. CORA is partnering with local businesses and community groups to collect food items, with 19 drop-off locations in place across the county, as of Tuesday afternoon.

“CORA serves a diverse community; families, students, and the elderly many of whom thought they would never have to seek food assistance,” CORA’s website for the drive says. “Your support is essential and will strengthen our ability to ensure that our most vulnerable neighbors get the food they need.”

CORA’s mission is to build a community without hunger — something the organization works toward throughout the year by providing food to individuals and families in need within the community through its various programs.

Currently, its SNACK program, which provides participating children with 21 nutritious meals each week, is under way — it’s been in operation since mid-June and will continue through mid-August, when school resumes in Chatham.

The organization’s Pittsboro-based “client-choice” food pantry is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday. To better reach Chatham residents in the western part of the county, CORA started a “Mobile Market” which operates the fourth Tuesday of every month at Technology Way in Siler City. At those events, food for 21 meals is distributed to each person.

With 50% of public school children receiving free or reduced meals in Chatham schools, the need for nutritious and stable food options in Chatham is evident. CORA Executive Director Melissa Driver Beard previously told the News + Record that the organization is exploring hybrid and online shopping models that might remove additional barriers for clients moving forward.

“We’re really trying to think about how to better serve the community and better be a resource for those that we do serve,” Beard said in June. “And so I think we’ve really embraced this year of change and are gonna roll with that.”

The Hunger Heroes food drive is a focused effort and opportunity to stock the pantry, especially as summer is ending and school routines resume.

The most needed items, CORA’s website says, are cereal, maseca (a corn flour), canned fruit, canned vegetables, canned salmon, pasta, canned pasta sauce, olive oil and spices.

“Please donate the requested items,” the website says, “as they truly are our most needed and most popular items.”

To donate

People can make food donations directly at CORA, 40 Camp Drive, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Donations can also be made at the following grocery stores and businesses, with household and nonperishable food items left in boxes, cans or plastic containers.

(Businesses interested in collecting, can contact Rebecca Hankins at rebecca@corafoodpantry.org to get a food drive bin. People interested in volunteering can also email Hankins to help with food collections.)

Breakaway Café - 58 Chapelton Ct. Suite 100, Chapel Hill

Browns Auto - 11744-B, US Hwy 15 50, Chapel Hill

Carolina Brewery - 120 Lowes Dr. #100, Pittsboro

Edward Jones – Kevin Maley, 984 Thompson Street, Suite E2, Pittsboro

Edward Jones­ – Chad Virgile, 6:30 East St, Pittsobor

Edward Jones – Jessica Villagrana, 180 Providence Rd Suite 1C, Chapel Hill

Edward Jones – Kathy Brommage, 190 Chatham Downs Dr. Suite 103, Chapel Hill

First Bank in Pittsboro - 18 Chatham Corners Dr.

Food Lion Governors Club - 50000 Governors Dr.

French Connections in Pittsboro - 178 Hillsboro St.

Garden YOGA PBO - 184 East St., Pittsboro

Highway 55 - 987 East St., Pittsboro

House of Hops in Pittsboro - 112 Russet Run

McIntyre Books at Fearrington in Pittsboro - 220 Market St.

Pittsboro Outdoor Equipment Co. - 184 Moncure Pittsboro Rd.

Root Cellar - 35 Suttles Rd., Pittsboro

Salon Breeze - 111 Polks Village Ln #108, Chapel Hill

The Mod - 46 Sanford Rd., Pittsboro

WCHL - University Mall in Chapel Hill

Apart from its food pantry and SNACK program, CORA also offers its celebration station, Commodity Supplemental Food Program and Emergency Food Assistance Program. Beard told the News + Record that people of all ages can get food if they need it; the pantry won’t turn anyone away.

“Everybody should know that the pantry is there to serve them,” she said.

You can make a monetary donation to CORA online at https://bit.ly/3l03Fik.

Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @HannerMcClellan.