SUFFOLK, Va. — The Suffolk Christian Fellowship Center has received a $300,000 grant from the Obici Healthcare Foundation to expand food assistance programs across the community.
The funding will specifically support the center's Mobile Market Access Network program, helping cover the cost of more food and transportation.
Lorna Slaughter, the center's co-founder and chief of operations, said the goal is to bring food access directly to families wherever they are.
"The idea is to create the opportunity for families to be able to access us not necessarily come into our base location but to be able to come to any location," Slaughter said.
According to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, the Suffolk Christian Fellowship Center served more than 14,000 people and more than 7,000 households this past year.
The money will primarily support the Mobile Market Access Network, along with other programs the organization provides. The grant will also help keep the center's base location stocked.
For residents like Rochellia Kindred, the pantry has been a lifeline. Kindred began visiting the center during the pandemic, stepped away, then returned in 2023 after her circumstances changed.
"Of course, my financial situation had changed some and I just found it was just very difficult food wise with the amount of people in the household," Kindred said.
She said the center is her primary food pantry among the three she visits.
"I'm very happy to get the food that my family needs, I'm just grateful, thankful, very very thankful because without this pantry we would have a problem," Kindred said.
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