My Letter in the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina’s Newsletter, Hunger Beat

I was asked to write a letter for the Food Bank’s Newsletter that just came out.  I thought you might like to know why I am dedicated to the misson of making sure no one goes hungry in Central and Eastern NC.

For me feeding someone is the greatest act of love and I have spent a lifetime feeding many people.  In college I started a catering business that I continued for ten years in Washington DC.  One day I came out of my garage and came face-to-face with a nice man, about my age dressed in a blue blazer and khakis eating food from my garbage can. 

I will never forget the conversation we had that morning in the back alley.  He told me that I had the best food in my garbage and that he really appreciated it.  It was only then that I noticed that his clothes were a little tattered and that he might need a shower.  I told him that I put my garbage out the night before the pick up and to look for separate boxes on top of the can from then on where I would leave safe food for him.

I never saw him again, but I do know that those boxes I left at night were missing the next mornings for as long as I lived there.  That began my interest in helping feed people who are hungry. 

Some years later my friend Rev. Hayward Holderness asked me to join the Advisory Council of the Durham Branch of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina which launched my relationship with this wonderful organization that is a life line to so many North Carolinians.

When I started volunteering ten years ago the Food Bank of CENC provided about 20 million pounds of food in our 34 county service area.  Today we are up to 45 million pounds this past year.  It is a sad situation that the need is growing so quickly, but so many generous people step up and help either with food donations, volunteer hours or funds.

Our mission that no one goes hungry in Central and Eastern North Carolina is huge.  We continue to try and improve the nutritional value of the food we provide and find ways to make good food available to all. 

I am humbled to take the Chair of this organization which is so vital to the over 550,000 people who depend on us for food each year.  The dedicated staff and generous volunteers are tireless in their dedication to ensure that our neighbors do not have to go looking through people’s trash to find something to eat.

Warmly,
Dana Lange