Please support our struggling neighbors by Standing in the Gap with Feed Durham this winter. We are currently in SNAP/EBT emergency response mode. As of November 1st, 140,000 Triangle area residents and 1.5 million North Carolina residents will lose access to supplemental benefits they rely on to feed themselves and their families. Prices will go up at grocery stores that are reliant on that first of the month influx of cash from SNAP/EBT customers. Some Head Start programs will be suspended beginning Monday, November 3rd, which will trigger a childcare crisis and workplace absenteeism. More importantly, tens of thousands of toddlers in North Carolina and millions across the U.S. will miss the two meals per day that they are guaranteed each weekday through HeadStart.

FOR SHORT-TERM RELIEF, WE ARE:

• Hosting Food, Baby + Winter Supply Drives at multiple locations, including

• Organizing Food, Baby + Winter Supply Drives at churches, community spaces, bars, and restaurants. To organize a food drive or become the recipient of a food drive, please email feeddurhamnc-at-gmail-dot-com.

• Facilitating and organizing bulk food buys at wholesale prices through North Carolina distributors. Your organization, church or family can contribute financially to a bulk food buy - and/or - your organization, church or family can be a part of a bulk food buy.

• Identifying and accessing food surpluses at restaurants, grocery stores, farms, gas stations, convenience stores, community/family gardens; and within neighborhoods.

FOR LONG-TERM RELIEF WE ARE:

• Installing community and family gardens to decrease household expenses and dependence on government systems.

• Organizing a wide-range of survival skillshares like gardening, plant medicine, food preservation (dehydrating, canning, freeze drying), budget-minded cooking demos, sewing, street medic first aid, community organizing, community defense, and more.

REDEFINING WELFARE

As tax-paying citizens, we supplement the income of our poorest neighbors because their low-wage work at grocery stores and in other sectors keeps our daily spending costs low. Additionally, many hospital workers and military families rely on foodbanks, SNAP/EBT, and WIC to feed their families while the titans of their respective industries enrich themselves.

REDEFINING COMMUNITY SAFETY

Most crimes that occur in low-income communities are survival crimes, born out of scarcity and the fear that scarcity breeds. More than guns, more than surveillance cameras and security systems, your best defense against a break-in is feeding and getting to know your neighbors. Bear in mind, most rural communities cannot afford a police force. Yet, crime is low because they feed one another and prioritize knowing and helping one another.

ABOUT FEED DURHAM

Feed Durham is a scrappy mutual aid collective that came together in response to mounting hunger in the Durham area, due to COVID. Since 2020, we've fed 200,000 neighbors in need through our sprawling no-contact cookouts, where we lovingly prepare meals for 500 people per day, and offer grocery give-aways. Through dozens of community partnerships, we feed elders, people living in cars and on the streets, widows, unsupported LGBTQ+ folks, undocumented families, the homebound and chronically ill, elementary students and their families. Most of our volunteers are community organizers, teachers, artists, farmers, parents, and every day goodhearted people. We are a multi-faith, multi-racial, intergenerational collective. We believe that we are only as safe as our least hungry neighbor. We serve more than just food. We serve hope.

FOLLOW FEED DURHAM

instagram.com/feeddurhamnc

facebook.com/feeddurhamnc

MEDIA/POSTS

Standing in the Gaps with Feed Durham

CIVIL EATS

Photos + Words by Katina Parker

https://civileats.com/2025/03/12/photo-essay-standing-in-the-gaps-with-feed-durham/