‘Feed Durham NC’ volunteers pack Thanksgiving bags with groceries and good feelings
A half-dozen volunteers stood at a table Saturday afternoon pouring sea salt, thyme, rosemary, paprika and cinnamon from large dispensers into individual shakers. Each held just a few tablespoonfuls of seasoning, but the impact would be huge.
“Thanksgiving is a very specific experience,” said Katina Parker, founder of Feed Durham NC, whose volunteers were busy preparing 600 bags of groceries so food-insecure families in the area can prepare their own holiday feasts. “People want to eat what they want to eat on that day,” not just what a food pantry can afford to hand them.
This way, a cook in each household will be able to make a meal to their own family’s taste, “in their tradition,” Parker said, putting “their own love and energy and spices into it.”
Parker, a documentary filmmaker, launched Feed Durham in late April 2020 with a cookout that prepared 1,000 meals for people in need. Since then, the group has cooked more than 15,000 meals, serving one every six to eight weeks. Each is a variation on a similar menu: chicken grilled on an outdoor cooker and paired with fresh seasonal vegetables.
Feed Durham gets support for the continuing cookouts from donations to a GoFundMe account and from local cohorts such as The Mustard Seed Project and Refugee Community Partners.hip.
Parker’s South Durham home, the base of operations for Feed Durham, was overrun with volunteers Saturday. Teams were filling containers of beans, rice or flour, or writing notes to be tucked into grocery bags, or opening cases of fresh, locally grown autumn vegetables to put into the bags. Pallets were stacked high with cabbage, kale, collards, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, oranges and apples. The bags would also be packed with chicken or turkey, eggs, butter, bread and the spice jars.
“Initially, we committed to making 100 Thanksgiving grocery bags, but demand quickly ballooned to 600 requests, and, thankfully, hundreds of people agreed to help — from local farms that donated produce to an outpouring of volunteer support who’ve agreed to give most of their weekend to packing and distributing groceries,” Parker said in a press release about the giveaway.
In all, Parker said, the effort would require 3,000 pounds in produce donations from Farmer Foodshare, Duke Mutual Aid, and several area farms; 5,000 pounds of chicken donated by Mountaire Farms of NC; bread from Durham’s 9th Street Bakery; printing donations from Spee Dee Que of Durham; grants from Blueprint NC and Southern Vision Alliance; and the financial support of several hundred donors.
Volunteer Elizabeth Godown of Carrboro, a former food-service worker who joined Feed Durham last spring, said she has stayed with it because the meals it provides are more than just sustenance.
“Often there is the implicit assumption that if you’re hungry, you should just take what you can get,” Godown said. Feed Durham aims to treat people with more dignity, providing food that is locally sourced and is thoughtfully and tastefully prepared with an awareness that even those who are hungry have food sensitivities and preferences.
“Like you would serve your own family,” she said. “We’re serving meals or ingredients to make meals that have that component of family and spirituality and connectedness. We want people to be able to tell that the food was made by hand and with love.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 4:25 PM.
