Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays merged in May 2021. Friendship Trays moved on July 9 and started distributing meals from 648 Griffith Road on July 12, 2021.
Friendship Trays provides meals to recipients throughout Mecklenburg County. Our recipients vary in age from 30’s to over 100 years of age. Family, neighbors, healthcare professionals, and individuals may make referrals to receive meals. Most recipients are not able to prepare a meal for themselves do to ability or mobility. Our recipients pay a fee (.85-$5.00) for a meal. The price takes into consideration rent/mortgage and healthcare/medication costs.
Loaves & Fishes clients are referred by a professional (approved human service agency, medical provider, social worker, school counselor, or local clergy). The forty-one (41) brick and mortar pantries are in in neighborhoods with limited access to full size grocery stores from Pineville to Davidson. Pantries provided boxes of groceries to clients during the pandemic and are slowly going back to Client Choice, where clients choose the groceries they take home using a nutritionally balanced “shopping” list.
This video gives a great overview of what happens daily at Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays. You can help by donating funds, food, holding a food drive or by volunteering.
Volunteering with Friendship Trays
Volunteer opportunities include:
*Morning Meal Packing: Utilizes 1-2 volunteers each weekday morning from 8am-9:30am (or so).
*Afternoon Meal Packing: Utilizes 1-2 volunteers each weekday afternoon from 12noon -1:30pm (or so).
If you are interested in these opportunities, contact Martha Cochrane, Volunteer Coordinator for Friendship Trays, the home delivered meals arm of Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays.
Volunteering with Loaves & Fishes
Click here to see the variety of volunteer options packing in the warehouse or distributing home delivered groceries. Contact Lindsey Houser, the volunteer coordinator for Loaves & Fishes – the home delivered grocery arm of Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays if you are interested in volunteer opportunities in the warehouse.
Did you know that Sardis is used as a pickup site each weekday morning? Drivers pick up insulated bags with chilled meals for delivery at 10:30am in the Weekday School lot in the front corner of Sardis Road and the Francis Property.
Routes are typically in the Matthews or Mint Hill area yet may around the block from where you live or work. Driving a route to deliver meals is our greatest need. We have individuals, couples and friends that deliver weekly, several times a week, every other week, or monthly to recipients. Many of our volunteers like to “change things up” and go to areas they are less familiar to increase their knowledge of neighborhoods throughout Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Volunteers must sign documentation for Auto Liability Insurance, Universal Health Precautions, Confidentiality, and a Criminal Background Check. The recipients look forward to your arrival, too.
Our greatest need is for financial donations and donations of non-perishable foods. If you participate in a food drive, please avoid glass containers. The visual below shows the items that are healthier and are more appropriate for groceries.
