Food Lion grant helps Franklin County pantry expand fresh food access

Care and Share Center received a $3,400 grant from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation to expand fresh-food access and strengthen meal-preparation education at Franklin County’s local pantry.

Franklin County said June 25 that the money will help the pantry, operated by the Franklin County Department of Social Services, nourish neighbors experiencing hunger and support families as they work toward stability. Andrew Payne, the county’s DSS director, said the grant supports the pantry’s mission to reduce hunger and improve family well-being.

The size of the award is modest, but the use case is specific. Franklin County said the money will help pay for fresh, nutritious food and for educational programming that teaches families how to prepare healthy meals. For food-recovery groups and workplace giving programs alike, that kind of narrow targeting is often what makes a small grant credible: the dollars are tied to a concrete result, not a broad promise.

Care and Share has been part of the county’s safety net for a long time. Franklin County’s history page says the pantry was formed in 1985 by eight churches and volunteers, and that the county started administering its funding in 2005 to keep it open after many volunteers retired. That detail tracks with the realities of pantry work, where volunteer recruitment, route coordination and stable partner support can matter as much as the food itself.

Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation, established in 2001, said it has provided more than $25 million in grant funding. Franklin County also noted the foundation’s long-standing relationship with Feeding America and local agencies across the 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states where Food Lion operates.

The foundation’s 2025 grant rounds show the same pattern. On June 23, 2025, Food Lion said it awarded more than $1.1 million to 264 organizations across its 10-state footprint. On October 9, 2025, it said another round delivered more than $2.6 million to 120 organizations focused on childhood hunger prevention and nutrition education. In both cases, the money was tied to feeding partners, healthier lifestyles and nutrition education, not just more product on a shelf.

That is the lesson for A Simple Gesture chapters and corporate partners watching where the field is headed. A near zero-cost model works best when outside support goes beyond volume alone. A Simple Gesture says a one-dollar donation converts to more than $30 of food for food banks and pantries, and its Guilford County operation has made giving easier since 2015. Grants that also support pantry upgrades, nutrition education and dependable fresh-food access can make a doorstep donation network more useful for volunteers and for the families waiting at the end of the route.