Plenty Inc

For some, Plenty! is a reliable, ongoing source of healthy food for the majority of their household’s needs; for others, Plenty! serves as a supplemental food source in times of unexpected acute need. With no income requirement, Plenty! is a safety net for those experiencing a temporary crisis as evidenced by the fact that 27.5% of the more than 4,000 Food Pantry visits last year were for a single time. A survey of nearly 100 Plenty! patrons found that a majority experience moderate to severe food insecurity – from “worrying about having enough to eat” (62%) to “skipping meals” (35%) and “running out of food” (24%) or “going without food for a whole day” (19%). When asked what impact Plenty! has on their access to food and the quality of the food, over 70% reported that, because of Plenty!, they are able to offer nutritious food to their children, including a majority (67%) who report that their “children have enough to eat” because of Plenty!’s help.

Plenty! has garnered accolades for its fresh (no pun intended) approach to providing access to whole, nutritious food. But we know we can do more to help patrons make the best nutritional choices. Plenty! provides fresh and healthy food through the food pantry and portable produce program with no income requirement. It also hosts a free community lunch to provide a healthy and fresh meal while building community. PLenty! has a sustainable and organically run farm that provides a large portion of the produce used in Plenty! programs. This year we offered two pilot programs - Food Matters classes for low-income older adults and MarketKids program for children age 7-12. Both provided Plenty! with valuable learning about how best to address the unique needs of our most vulnerable patrons – children and the elderly. The MarketKids program was recognized by winning the Click & Pledge “Next Generation” award and featured in a short film about Plenty! MarketKids to be premiered at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg next month: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ob93vthjp69nqct/AABIsCtdbBKv0P3rZ3-fGYSka/Plenty%21%20-%20Full%20Episode.mov?dl=0

Plenty! is highly capable of meeting their goals of providing fresh and healthy food while building community. Plenty!’s Food Pantry is serving more people per month than ever before in our history. Already, year-to-date through September, visits to the food pantry have exceeded the total for the entire year in 2018. Of the 559 households that have utilized the pantry so far this year, nearly a third (29%) have come only one time, an indication of the importance of Plenty!’s role as a stopgap means to help neighbors experiencing a temporary emergency food crisis.
Late last year, Plenty! began weekly Portable Pantry deliveries to 35 senior adults living without transportation at the Blue Ridge and Pine Ridge apartment complexes, and for those in our county without transportation, Plenty! volunteers deliver Portable Produce bags of fresh produce, bread and pet food June through November to 60 families. With an emphasis on fresh, healthy food, 83% of the 86 tons of food distributed in 2018 was fresh fruits and vegetables. The Plenty! Farm yield has increased and continues to supply 50-100% of Portable Produce bag contents.

The past year has been one of growth for Plenty! in terms of breadth of programs and, most importantly, impact on our community with a 60% increase in food distributions to hungry neighbors across Floyd County. More food recovery and more food distributions have been managed by Plenty!’s existing 2.5 paid staff working alongside 68 scheduled volunteers per week to manage a total of 700-1,000 distributions per month across our three primary food programs: Pantry, Deliveries and Portable Produce.

Current figures suggest year-end 2019, we expect to serve:

Food 760 unique households 5,400 visits
Pantry (2,217 individuals)

Portable 55 households 1,175 deliveries
Produce (94 individuals)

Portable 35 households 1,820 deliveries
Pantry (40 individuals)

Community 23 lunches … approx. 50 people ea. 1,150 lunches
Lunch (weekly Jun-Aug, monthly Sep-May)