Feed Thy Neighbor

St. Paul’s looks to make a difference in Concord and strengthen community partnerships

BY KATE DUNLOP

St. Paul’s School has made a pledge to support a local church’s capital campaign to build a new home for its food pantry in order to continue serving the greater Concord community.

For 50 years, the Christ the King Parish and its food pantry have provided for those in need with dignity and respect; in 2024, the food pantry served 8,165 people in 3,071 households. In each of the last five years, the number of those using the food pantry has increased by about 10 percent. Some visitors are on permanently limited incomes, some are unhoused or temporarily unemployed; many are only able to both eat and pay rent because of the food pantry.

The new facility behind the South Main Street church will help its 120 volunteers better provide not just food but also comfort and community to those who are often scared and isolated. The barrier-free, grocery store-style plan will allow clients to select the items they need, including dairy, produce and meat. Some of that produce is grown by the Fresh Start Farms cooperative, which counts some School acreage among its sites managed by immigrant and refugee farmers.

Rector Kathy Giles welcomed the opportunity for St. Paul’s School to strengthen its community partnership with the food pantry, where many students and staff volunteer, and pledged $50,000 to the project. “The real mover for me was the number of families that need support,” she told Proclaim magazine, the church’s monthly publication. “We look for ways to make a difference in the lives of children in our community. We’re really interested in feeding hungry kids.”

The building project was inspired by a $1 million gift left to the church by longtime food pantry volunteer Theresa A. Downing. St. Paul’s School joins nearly three dozen other local nonprofits, civic and religious organizations who have combined with parishioner and diocese support to bring the church within $240,000 of its $2.55 million goal.

“We’re just so grateful to be followers of what we think is a very good idea,” Giles says. “We’re very honored to be part of it.”

A ribbon cutting ceremony to open the Food Pantry will be held Thursday, Sept. 25, at 10:30 a.m.; open houses will be held Saturday, Sept. 27, 4-6 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 28, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.