Fresh food and more for qualified clients of North Kent Connect

*** THE CLIENT PANTRY IS CLOSED ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023 ***

When you walk into our Pantry, you won’t see shelves of macaroni and cheese, Pop-Tarts, Fruit Loops, and Ramen noodles. Instead, you’ll see coolers with fresh produce and shelves of whole grain pasta, dried beans, and low-sugar cereals.

North Kent Connect made this institutional change for our families because we care about their well-being. We heard from clients that they appreciated pantries with fresh food, lean proteins, and dairy. We knew from experience that these types of items flew off the shelves. We learned from research that low-income families tend to experience more health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. With this in mind, we made the switch from a traditional food pantry to one that offers healthy food to families who need it the most.

Pantry Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Thursday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

*** THE CLIENT PANTRY IS CLOSED ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023 ***

Fighting Food Insecurity

“Food Insecurity” refers to the USDA’s measure of lack of access to enough food for a healthy lifestyle for a family.

These families may not be food insecure all the time, but they often lack nutritious food and instead turn to inexpensive, sugary and calorie-dense food. Often, these families need to make a trade-off between basic needs such as housing or medical bills, and purchasing nutritionally adequate food.

In Kent County, nearly 15% of households are food insecure. To combat these statistics, North Kent Connect provides an array of food programs, such as our Pantry.

Help Support Our Pantry

We are always in need of donations of healthy foods to keep our Pantry stocked. If you would like to donate items, here are the most requested:

  • Cereal and other healthy grains (quinoa, rice)
  • Canned fruit (peaches, pears, anything low-sugar)
  • Canned pasta sauce (no glass, please)
  • Pasta

Help us provide these nutritious foods for our clients. We’re also looking for fresh produce, lean proteins, and dairy products.

Our food donation hours are as follows:

Monday – Thursday
8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Food donations can be dropped off at the north patio, next to the Community Garden.