Before there was a Pantry, there were neighbors.
This is the story of how three women saw families struggling, brought people together, and started something that Franklin County is still carrying forward today.
Follow the Pantry's story.
It begins with a difficult time in Franklin County. Then three friends step forward. Other people join them. A Board is formed. The work grows. And more than four decades later, people are still showing up for their neighbors.
Franklin County was going through a hard time.
A failing local economy was making it harder for families to make ends meet. Social service professionals were seeing the effects firsthand.
Children, working parents, and seniors were among the people feeling the strain.
Three friends decided to do something.
Jane Quire, Terri Fadse, and Alice LeMaster saw families struggling in their own community.
They knew people needed somewhere to turn when there simply wasn't enough food.
The idea didn't stay with three people.
Churches, community organizations, fellow social service agencies, and community members joined the effort.
What started as concern became a community response.
The first Board of Directors was formed.
The Pantry's first Board of Directors was formed on October 26, 1981.
The organization now had structure behind the work and a group of people committed to carrying it forward.
They knew what the Pantry needed to be.
The original mission had three straightforward goals:
- Provide a crisis food center where families could receive immediate help.
- Operate through dedicated volunteers so food could be distributed efficiently and with dignity.
- Unite churches, agencies, and citizens around feeding neighbors in need.
The organization became an official nonprofit.
The public IRS record lists the Emergency Community Food Pantry of Franklin County as receiving its tax-exempt 501(c)(3) ruling in December 1982.
The Pantry became part of Franklin County's safety net.
The work continued to depend on people giving their time, food, and financial support.
Churches, businesses, civic organizations, and individuals became part of the network that kept food moving to people who needed it.
Over time, the Pantry became more than a place where food was stored. It became part of the way this community responds when a neighbor is in crisis.
The Pantry was already serving thousands of neighbors.
In 2019, the Pantry helped provide a week's worth of groceries to 10,887 neighbors.
That number gives a sense of how much the organization had grown since the small beginning in 1981.
received a week's worth of groceries in 2019.
The need grew, and the Pantry kept going.
During the first nine months of 2020, the Pantry distributed 132,950 meals and helped 6,331 neighbors.
The Pantry continued distributing food every weekday except holidays, relying on volunteers and support from local faith communities, businesses, and civic organizations.
January–September 2020
The Pantry is still doing what those three friends started.
Today, the Pantry provides each approved household with about a week of groceries — roughly 21 meals — carefully packed by volunteers.
Grocery boxes can include grains, rice, pasta, beans, canned meats, produce when available, vegetables, soups, fruits, and other shelf-stable foods.
The current site reports more than 1.7 million meals shared with families across Franklin County.
People are still showing up.
More than 50 volunteers help keep the Pantry moving each week. They pick up donations, stock shelves, fill orders, and welcome families who come for help.
More than 30 churches and community agencies help connect people with the Pantry.
A volunteer-led Board continues to guide the organization.
The Pantry grew. The reason for it stayed the same.
Someone in Franklin County needs food.
Someone else has enough to share.
The Pantry helps bring those two things together.
The story didn't stop in 1981. You're part of what comes next.
The Pantry's story has continued because people in Franklin County keep deciding that their neighbors matter.
Maybe you volunteer. Maybe you donate. Maybe you bring food. Maybe you organize a food drive. Maybe you simply tell someone about the Pantry when they need help.
Whatever your part is, you belong in this story.
Three people started it. Franklin County keeps writing it.
The history of the Emergency Community Food Pantry is not only about the people who started it. It is about every person who came after them and decided that their neighbors were worth showing up for.