Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Center, a partner agency of Golden Harvest Food Bank, will be revealing a pantry makeover at 10 am on Friday September 9, 2022 at the organization’s 2443 Augusta Road location in Gloverville, SC.

Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Center received a $6,700 grant to help improve operations, increase its capacity to donate more food to food insecure neighbors and purchase needed equipment. The agency received the funds through Food Lion Feeds’ The Great Pantry Makeover effort. In addition to providing funds for the capital improvement project, local Food Lion associates will provide support by donating volunteer hours as part of its largest associate volunteer initiative.

“We feel honored and blessed that our pantry was chosen for this award,“ said Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Center site administrator Joely Leguizamon. “We are deeply grateful to Food Lion and Golden Harvest for choosing us and it is our hope that with this revamping of the food pantry we can better serve our community.”

The annual campaign takes place every September to align with Hunger Action Month, a time when Food Lion Feeds deepens its extensive existing partnership with Feeding America to raise awareness and inspire action to help people facing impossible choices resulting from food insecurity.

“Golden Harvest Food Bank is extremely grateful to be joining forces with Food Lion Feeds and Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Center in response to food insecurity," said President and CEO Amy Breitmann. "1 in 8 in our community are food insecure and the renovations provided by The Great Pantry Makeover will help provide more fresh and healthy food to our neighbors in need.”

In addition to the makeover, Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Center will receive a shelf stable non-perishable donation to stock the pantry and more than $3,500 in Food Lion gift cards in support of the food pantry through the holidays and winter months.

“We are proud to partner with Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Center during Hunger Action Month to help raise awareness of this nationwide effort to help end hunger,” said Kevin Durkee, Manager, Food Lion Feeds, Food Lion. “The Great Pantry Makeover provides our associates a great opportunity to connect with their neighbors while nourishing the towns and cities we serve.”

Now in its eighth year, Food Lion associates support these local efforts by volunteering to complete pantry improvements. Their volunteer hours include remodels ranging from painting and cleaning pantries to installing shelving, freezers, coolers and other equipment to expand the capacity for fresh fruits, vegetables and other products.