Loaves & Fish Food Pantry

01/26/2026

Due to icy conditions in the parking lot Loaves & Fish will be closed on Tuesday January 27

11/07/2025

Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers over the past few weeks as we have been majorly impacted by the government shut down and the ensuing loss of SNAP benefits among our friends and neighbors. We are blessed to live in Virginia where our Governor declared a state of emergency which made it possible to use state emergency funds to cover the cost of food stamps in Virginia. It is being done on a weekly basis in hopes that powers that be can get their act together and start thinkiing about the good of the country rather than party agendas. But it'still not easy with folks receiving one fourth of theie food stamp allotment weekly. As one lady said to me, "you can't buy 1/4 of a half ga;llon of milk or a fourth of a loaf of bread or a fourth of a can of anythng so you buy whar can this week and try to make do till you get the next round." In October we gave out 264 food boxes which equates to about 540 peoiple being fed. But for the last 3 weeks we have had to close early every day because we ran out of food. Thanks to Caden's peanut butter donations we were able to take the money we normally spend on peanit butter and some other donations and increase our monthly purchase from Feeding Southwest Virginia to cover 300 food boxes for November, but once again last week we had to close at least an hour early every day becauser we were out of food and had to turn people away which is hard, particularly when people have come from Fries or Elk Creek or Fort Chiswell in hopes of getting food. Turning people away who we knew needed food was taking a toll on everyone. I told folks at our Board meeting this week that I felt like we were a drop in the bucket compared to the need. And then... our Awesome, Faithful, Loving, God stepped in. On the way home from the Board meeting I got a message from the pastor of a church in town that they were aware of the food crisis and wanted to help and were gving us $1,000. Combining that with a $300 donation from another church, we were able to do another order with Feeding Southwest Virginia, which is by the way a totally amazing organizatiion, so we will be able to increase the number of food boxes we can give out per day and know we will have food available through the end of the month. And remember we are just the middlemen in this blessing. God gives to us so we can pass His blessing on to you because He loves you and He cares about every detail of your life

08/11/2025

Late on posting July numbers. 252 food sets were given out feeding 673 people. July was a tough month. Due to the way the calendar ran we were open 15 days which is about 3 more than usual, and the cost of those 3 extra days was almost $1,000. So as always we thank God for His faithfulness in meeting our needs so that we can meet yours.

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07/31/2025

Just a reminder Loaves & Fish is hosting a bake sale this Saturday August 2 to raise money to help us continue to feed our friends and neighbors who are struggling in these difficult times. We are going to be at 2 locations from 10 to 1. Some of us will be at Walmart and the rest will be at 969 E Stuart Drive (Burton and Company). Several families are having a yard sale on the adjacent lot so you can check out what they have and pick some goodies while you are there.
Summer is our primary time to raise funds for the fall and winter when the number of folks needing help increases. One of our main sources of funds is the Feed A Family for a Year program. The food boxes we give our run around $15 per month, so for $15 a month or $180 for a year you can make sure a family in our community gets food for a year. But every little bit helps. I remember the first year we were open a lady came to get a food box and as she was leaving she asked if we accepted donations. A little puzzled I said yes. She scrounged around in her jean pockets and came up with $1.81. She said I know this probably won't help much, but maybe it will at least buy somebody a loaf of bread, I'm sorry, this is all I have. My mind immediately went to the story in the Bible about the poor widow Jesus saw giving at the temple who only had a mite but Jesus said she had given more than all the others because they gave out of their abundance but she gave all she had.

If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as noonday
Isaiah 58: 10

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07/14/2025

Like many of you, we are shocked and saddened by the devasting floods in Texas and the increasing casualty accounts coming from there and our hearts go out to folks there. We don't have a lot to work with money wise at Loaves & Fish, but we know that many of the folks who get food from us would like to be able to help the folks in Texas even if they can only give a little. So this week we are setting up a jar at the registration desk for Texas Flood Relief and all contributions will go directly to Samaritan's Purse whose folks are already on site and engaged in provding assiatance to folks there.

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07/14/2025

Loaves & Fish celebrated its 3rd anniversary in June. Since we have been at our current location we have watched the number of individuals and families we serve increase steadily. Part of this is due to inflation, but a big part is that about 25 % of the houeholds in our area are at or below poverty level which is more than double the national average. Poverty level for a household of one is below $12,000 per year so we are looking at a group of people who are existing on $1000 a month or less, many of whom are on fixed incomes. As the director of Second Harvest recently said, "we cannot help people by offering free rent or free utilites, the onlly thing we can offer them is free food."
Loaves & Fish obtaned our non profit status in 2024 which means all donations to the food pantry are fully tax deductible, and last year we became a partner with Feeding America and now get most of our food from the wonderful folks at Feeding Southwest Virginia in Abingdon. We get this food at a reduced rate, but it is not free. We began serving about 100 people a month and are now up to between 250 and 300 boxes being given out every month which equates to between 600 and 700 people getting food from us monthly. In 2024 we served a total of almost 7,000 people.
One of the main ways our food bank is funded is through a program we call Feeding a Family for a Year. Our food boxes cost us about $15 each which doesn't sound like a lot , but if we give out 250 boxes in a month the total cost is $3,750. So we offer individuals, churches and businesses the opportunity to feed a family for a year for $15 per month or an annual contribution of $180.
Just to review our food boxes include milk, eggs, cheese, bread, sandwich meet, fresh fruit and vegetables, and a variety of staple items (peanut butter, soup, pork and beans, green vegetables, spaghetti or ravioli, beef stew or chili, macaroni and cheese and oatmeal). A contribution of $15 per month provides all this food to an indivdual or family. You can sign up to help here on facebook, call us, or stop by the food pantry and pick up a sign up sheet. We hope you will consider partnering with us to help fight hunger among our friends and neighbors here in our community.

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07/10/2025

Hey everyone, sorry for the late notice but Loaves and Fish will not be open today July 10. The food bank from which we receive our food was closed the last few days in June for their year end inventory and then hit the July 4th holiday the following week so they have not gotten their food in so the delivery we get around the 1st to keep us in food for the month has not arrived. They are supposed to have everything worked out so that we will get our food and be back in business on Tuesday. We apologize for the inconvenience but until the truck comes we have nothing left to give out.

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06/08/2025

We got a quick response from the summer feeding program for kids aka Grab and Go. They brought us 200 more boxes so we would be ready for this coming Wednesday

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06/05/2025

We began the kids summer feeding program yesterday. Just a reminder this is a program in rural areas that provides the free lunch and breakfast kids get at school during the academic year in boxes. There are five breakfast and lunches in every box so a family is allowed to pick up on for every child in their home every week from now until mid August when school starts We had no idea what to expect in terms of participation so our friends at Feeding Southwest Virginia suggested we plan for 50 a week so we opened yesterday with 100 boxes which was to be a two week supply. Our hours of operation were supposed to be from 10 to 1 just like the regular food pantry but by 12 we had given out all 100 boxes and still had folks coming to register. It was a busy morning but a total blessing to us to think that we had been able to provide a week's worth of meals to kids in our area. Feeding Southwest Virginia has now increased our weekly inventory to 125 boxes. In additon to our regular crew we had 5 extra volunteers to come out and help which was great since we were doing the regular food pantry at one door and handing out kids boxes at the same time at the other door. And we were blessed to have a staff person from Feeding Southwest Virginia there to answer questions and give us some guidance since this was our first time doing this. And our friend Shelia from Tri Area Health joined us and handed out tooth brushes and other health and hygiene items for kids.
Just a few reminders - any child between 1 and 18 is eligible to receive a box every week. They do not have to be in the Galax school system Although most of our folks came from Galax, we had others from Woodlawn, Hillsville, Barren Springs and Mount Airy. Kids who are home schooled can also receive boxes. But remember the kids program is not open every time the food pantry is. Boxes can only be picked up on Wednesdays from 10 to 1. We can still use volunteers since we anticipate serving a larger crowd this coming week. All in all it was a great day and we feel truly blessed and thank the Lord for this opportunity and we are very grateful to Feeding Southwest Virginia for inviting Loaves & Fish to participate in this feeding program

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05/18/2025

Just want to say a big thank you to all our volunteers and supporters. With your help, in April we gave out 268 food boxes that fed 597 people. Our totals were up over those of the past few months. We are seeing new folks come in every day which shows that people are affected by a number of issues in the economy right now and are struggling. Several months ago we started spltting our eggs and putting half a dozen in a box in order to afford to give them out at all. I noticed this month food prices are even creepling up with our suppliers. A case of peanut butter (12 jars) went up about $4 and sense we order around 20 cases a month that's an $80 per month increase on just that one item.
But our God is faithful and continues to meet our needs for which we are truly thankful. We will be kicking off the summer program for kids on June 4. Some of us attended a training program through Feeding America Southwest Virginia last week and we are planning to have a training session at Loaves & Fish the last week in May for folks who have signed up to help with the program.
Famillies with children will be able to pick up a breakfast/liunch food box for each child in the household from 1-18 every Wednesday beginning June 4 and going through August 13. Folks do not have to live in Galax to participate in the program and we learned this week at our training that home schooled children are also eligible to receive these boxes as well.

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04/21/2025

How would you like to help feed children? A couple months ago in my morning devotions I was just asking the Lord if there was anything else we should be doing. I had barely closed my Bible appwhen I got a call from Feeding Southwest Virginia in Abingdon about participating in a program to make sure children get healthy food over the summer. Rather than getting their breakfast and lunch at schools over the summer, children who live in designated rural areas can get their meals through the Rural Non Congregate Food Assistance Program. Through some grant funding, Feeding Southwest Virginia will provide boxes containing a weeks worth of breakfast and lunch for a child. Parents or guardians can come every week and pick up box for each child in their household from 1-18. We have never participated in this feeding program before, so we don't know what to anticipate. We are going to be starting this program on Wednesday June 4 and will continue a weekly distribution on Wednesdays till school resumes in August.
Even if 50 familes come a week and each family has two children that would be 400 food boxes a month and we do expect more than 50 families and that many of them will have more than two children so even that estimate may be low. WE will continue to be open on Wednesdays for adults picking up monthly food boxes as well so we are really going to need some extra volunteers on Wednesdays this summer.
If you have a heart for kids and this sounds like something you might like to do you can let us know here or give us a call or stop by Loaves & Fish for more information.

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03/13/2025

Our totals for February were a little down, partly because there were a couple days we were closed due to the weather and a few other days people couldn't get to us. We handed out 207 food boxes helping 434 people.

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