'We are community': The River City Bread Basket food pantry opens in Waynesboro

WAYNESBORO — Some early morning rain had given way to sunshine as community members gathered Saturday for the ribbon cutting and grand opening of The River City Bread Basket, a client-choice, food pantry. Although based in Waynesboro — it's located at 505 N. Winchester Avenue — River City will serve the Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County communities.

"We put a call out and the village showed up," Adrienne Young, the executive director of LIFEworks Project, the organization behind The River City Bread Basket, told those gathered for the ribbon cutting. "I want you to know that you're all a part of that."

The pantry will be stocked with nutritious essentials supplied by the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and Feeding America partners, Walmart and Food Lion. The mission is to ensure that no one in the community goes to bed hungry.

Shelves on Saturday were stocked with canned vegetables, fresh fruits and vegetables, flour, drinks, breads, and hygiene projects, just for starters.

It will be open for now Thursdays: 4:30 p.m. - 7 p.m.; Fridays: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.; and the first and third Saturdays every month 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The River City Bread Basket is a welcoming and inclusive space for all. While there are no barriers to entry, some items will be exclusively available to those eligible for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAO).

Young said the location was chosen because many in that neighborhood are underserved when it comes to grocery stores. Many, Young said, walk, some pushing strollers, long distances to get food.

"We want to give them an option where they can get healthy food that's provided by the community because we love and we care and we know what community looks like," Young said. "If you look around at all these faces, these different ages, these different folks, this is what community looks like."

The hope of LIFEworks is that more food pantries like River City Bread Basket will spring up throughout the area.

"When we put away our petty differences, at the end of the day everybody needs help, everybody needs resources," said A.J. Young, a co-founder of LIFEworks. "If you've never had the need for resources, keep on living because, in some way, shape or form, things tend to coming knocking at your door."

Young said he and his wife, Adrienne, looked at one another — he said it over Thanksgiving weekend — and said what a lot of people say — somebody ought to do something. He then jokingly told her that they should start a nonprofit.

"I was laughing," A.J. Young said. "But she wasn't. So I feel like when we look around and say somebody should do it, the person in the mirror is you, it's us. We are community."

The River City Bread Basket is made possible by the grants from organizations within the community. Organizers thanked the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Ntelos/Lumos, the City Of Waynesboro Community Development Block Grant, and the Community Foundation of the Blue Ridge for their support.

For more information email Adrienne Young at thelifeworksproject@gmail.com or call (540) 251-2381. You can also visit the LIFEworks Project website at thelifeworksproject.org.

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— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: The River City Bread Basket food pantry opens in Waynesboro