Local nonprofit, PORCH, fights for hunger relief and access to healthy foods, and is now doing so with a new executive director: Erin Riney. Since its start in 2010 the mission of PORCH continues on, helping those in the community with food insecurity. Riney works to collaborate with more members of the community to help those in need and recently stopped by 97.9 The Hill for an interview.
Riney started a food pantry around a decade ago at Durham Technical Community College, collaborating with students to bring it together. It became one of the most active food pantries in the state on college campuses. This led her to a position with PORCH, where she became its executive director in July. Not only has the organization just hit $6 million in local hunger relief, but they have a new long-term plan to help as many people as possible.
“[We are] happy to hit that $6 million mark but [are] really excited about our new strategic plan that we have in place,” Riney says. It started in Fall of 2022 and that’s part of why I’m here, realizing we’re serving as many folks as we can. [Also] knowing we need to put in a little infrastructure and hit those goals of serving at least 700 people by the end of 2025.”
Food insecurity is a growing need around North Carolina. Riney says PORCH is working towards tackling it in our local community through mobilizing neighbors, working in schools, and providing as much support to those in need.
“What we’re hearing from folks-and this is across the state-is that there’s an unprecedented amount of need,” says Riney.
PORCH has a program called “Food for Schools” that provides $1,100 worth of snacks to each school in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro city school district.
“That is a great program because it provides a point of connection for kids,” Riney says. “They come in asking for the snacks but it leads to those conversations that they need to have with their teachers, social workers, and school nurses to help connect them to other resources.”
Another program called “Food for Families” requires contribution from community members. It emphasizes getting food to families who need it.
“With “Food for Families” we are always looking for folks to participate in a collection in your neighborhood, just grabbing an extra can of tuna, extra box of cereal, extra hearty soup, and putting that out on your doorstep,” Riney adds. “Folks will come around and magically collect it, bring it to us, and we get it out to folks who need it basically within 48 hours.”
Riney says with the new strategic plan, PORCH hopes to elevate the voices of those we serve as well as engage with the community. An advisory panel listens and collaborates with those in the community who struggle with food insecurity to solve issues.
“With our new strategic plan we are also trying to work on and have conversations around those deep rooted causes of hunger and think about systems level work and how do we be a part of that and be a catalyst for change in our community for those causes,” Riney explains.
Riney says PORCH is all about taking care of each other and making sure Orange County neighbors have the resources they need.
“We talk about Chapel Hill being the southern slice of heaven, but we really need to work collectively as a community and that’s what PORCH does, ” Riney says. “We really are a community rooted organization.”
She says she has a passion for helping others and enjoys working with people around her. It’s part of the reason she took the position as the executive director. Riney also adds the nonprofit is always looking for volunteers or community members to work with, and donations are also accepted and highly appreciated.
“There’s a way for everyone to be involved,” Riney explains. “There’s a level of engagement whether you’re looking to learn more about food security in the area, if you want to know what’s going on in our community around food, or if you’re wanting to get involved and donate. It’s neighbors helping neighbors. And we would love for this to eventually put us out of business, right. That’s the goal: it’s to alleviate hunger.”
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