CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Loaves and Fishes/Friendship Trays, a Charlotte-based food pantry that provides groceries and meals to people and families in need, is expanding its home delivery service by allowing users to customize their orders.
Loaves and Fishes received about $3 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan and is using it to create a user interface similar to the popular grocery delivery app Instacart. This will allow people to choose what's in their box before it's delivered to the doorstep.
“Its always been a need long before COVID, and COVID exacerbated that,” Community Outreach Director for Loaves & Fishes Danielle Moore said. “It’s a hand up, not a handout.”
Since launching home delivery in April 2020, Loaves and Fishes has fed over 24,000 people. Danielle Moore, the community outreach director for Loaves and Fishes, says they expect to feed even more people this year thanks to the new ordering system.
Loaves and Fishes recently merged with Friendship Trays, the Meals on Wheels provider for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, to form Loaves and Fishes/Friendship Trays. The organization said the merger will increase access and distribution of healthy food and groceries for those in need in Mecklenburg County.
“The grocery home delivery program eliminates that worry its peace of mind knowing that you’re going to have healthy, fresh food delivered right to your door,” Moore said. “The ordering delivery platform brings a little bit more of that dignity back to the shopping experience.”
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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