Lend A Helping Hand
Loaves & Fishes is a food ministry that provides groceries to food insecure families in Alamance and surrounding counties.
The ministry distributes donations of food from the local community to those families who do not have enough food.
When local donations are insufficient to meet demand, the ministry buys food at wholesale or less from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, located in Winston-Salem. The ministry also picks up donated food from local grocery stores.

Applying For Food
Persons who want to apply for food must be at the Loaves & Fishes Administrative Office no later than 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to get their name on the list of persons applying for food that day. Persons applying for food must have a picture ID (a driver's license, for example) and two utility bills with the his/her name and address on them. In addition, the person applying for food must know the names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and income and expenses of everyone living in the household with them. The person applying for food is interviewed by a volunteer and then the application is reviewed by the Loaves & Fishes Office Manager to determine the level of need. Persons can be approved to get food once a month, once every other month, or once every three months. Most persons must update their application every time they come to get food. Others may be approved to get food for the entire year without having to update their application. Only one person in a household may apply for and receive food.

Loaves & Fishes also accepts referrals from churches, Department of Social Services, Alamance Community Services, Hospice & Palliative Care Center of Alamance-Caswell, Alamance Regional Medical Center, schools, and other local independent and
government agencies, although a referral is not needed to get food.

Getting Food
Persons getting food must do so from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday at the Food Distribution Center next to the Administrative Office. Everyone who gets food must be driving or riding in a vehicle. Volunteers place food in each vehicle when it is driven into the Food Distribution Center. Persons who are walking, or riding a bicycle or moped
cannot pick up food.

For those persons who cannot get out of their home to pick up food at the Food Distribution Center, Loaves & Fishes does have volunteers who deliver food once a month to the person's residence. Home deliveries usually occur on the second weekend of each month.

Our History