Elon lifelong learning group donates food, cash to Alamance pantry

A 1,192-item food haul and $1,880 in cash gave Elon University’s LIFE@Elon group a concrete way to mark its 15th year, even as the drive fell 308 items short of its 1,500-item goal. The donations went to SAFE, Inc. of Alamance County, where families across Burlington, Graham, Snow Camp and the rest of the county depend on pantry service that last year reached 8,000 households and provided more than 620,000 meals.

The effort came out of a spring food drive and fundraiser organized during April by the university’s lifelong learning community, which has more than 500 members age 50 and older. LIFE@Elon is designed as a non-credit program for older adults, and the university has tied the effort to broader Elon-Alamance Partnerships aimed at connecting campus learning with community needs. Members said the project linked education and service in a practical way by supporting a local pantry that serves families in Alamance County.

SAFE’s network gives those donations a broad reach. The organization operates three choice food pantries in the county, including sites on NC 87, in Snow Camp and at The Bridge, and it says the pantries are appointment-based and use a grocery-style selection model. Beyond food, SAFE also connects families to referrals and other local resources. The group was founded in 2013 as Southern Alamance Family Empowerment after rising food insecurity strained southern Alamance County and after a major pantry closure widened the gap.

The spring timing mattered. Elon said pantry needs stay strong after the winter holiday giving season fades, and the $1,880 in cash helped cushion the shortfall in donated goods. Against a backdrop of 8,000 families served and more than 620,000 meals distributed in 2025, the drive was a useful, if limited, response to a continuing county need. In 2020, then-executive director Lynne Pierce called the need for food assistance in Alamance County “huge and honest,” a description that still fits the scale of the demand.

LIFE@Elon’s 2025-26 classes ran from Sept. 9, 2025, through April 29, 2026, in Johnston Hall, with tuition listed at $160 for the year. For a group built around weekly presentations and non-credit learning, the anniversary drive showed that its reach was not limited to campus classrooms. It also reached into one of Alamance County’s most persistent needs.