Former Carolina Panthers stars help Charlotte residents in need during COVID-19 crisis

Organizations large and small have announced ways they’re providing relief to local families in Charlotte and the surrounding area.

The Charlotte Observer has compiled this list, which will be updated over time, to help you learn how you can help. Philanthropy experts advise people looking to help their community direct monetary donations toward established nonprofit organizations.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is opening about 70 sites across the county to provide breakfast and lunch to students who rely on school for meals. For other forms of relief, a Charlotte-based fundraising effort through the United Way began March 16. The COVID-19 Response Fund will be overseen by the Foundation for the Carolinas.

Here are ways to help local organizations that are assisting those in need in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Organizations needing volunteers are encouraged to email jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com to request being added to this list.

Join ex-Panthers’ stars helping people in need amid COVID-19 crisis

Elevation Church and the charitable foundations of former Carolina Panthers stars Steve Smith and Jonathan Stewart are partnering to provide COVID-19 relief supplies to local residents in need.

And you can join the effort by donating online.

Smith’s foundation announced the partnership on Twitter, saying “these supplies will be distributed to those in our underserved communities.”

Supplies will be provided through Convoy of Hope, which has responded to more than 360 international and domestic disasters, including delivering more than 500 tractor-trailer loads of relief supplies in 2017, according to the organization’s website..

“Millions of survivors have been helped thanks to the local churches, businesses, government agencies and other nonprofits, donors and volunteers who make Convoy of Hope’s work possible,” according to a statement on ConvoyofHope.org.

By late Wednesday, 52 donors had contributed $7,000 toward the effort’s $35,000 goal, according to the Convoy of Hope COVID-19 Charlotte Response online donation page.

Volunteers making CDC-compliant masks

Kristen Nardone of Huntersville is forming a group of volunteers to make CDC-compliant face masks that would be given to local hospitals or other treatment centers.

“We need 100% cotton fabric remnants and elastic,” Nardone told the Observer in an email Saturday. “Elastic is most pressing, there is none to be found. Need 1/4 or 1/8”.”

Nardone hopes local craft or sew shops will sell the group the materials at a discount, or donate them.

She cited similar volunteer efforts underway in other states, including for hospitals in Evansville, Ind.

Anyone who’d like to join the group or who has supplies to give can email Nardone at kristensnardone@gmail.com.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina

The Food Bank on Spratt Street in Charlotte is working with its more than 800 partner agencies in 24 counties, including local school systems, to assess how it can best be of service.

The greatest need is money to buy healthy, shelf-stable items for food boxes, Food Bank officials said. The boxes will help feed families whose children are missing school meals, seniors being asked to stay at home, people who are quarantined and workers impacted by reduced work hours, Food Bank officials said.

“Within the next 30 days, we will be packing tens of thousands of these food boxes,” Food Bank officials posted on the Second Harvest website.

Donate money at SecondHarvestMetrolina.org/coronavirus.

Volunteers also are needed. Register on the volunteer sign-up page at SecondHarvestMetrolina.org.

CMS Foundation

The CMS Foundation, a non-profit that supports Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, has begun fundraising for district students and families affected by the closure of schools because of the novel coronavirus.

The foundation’s new COVID-19 Relief Fund will support critical needs of families and students and extend academic instruction during the closure.

Donate at cms-foundation.org/donate with “Relief” in the notes section of the donation page.

Donations also can be mailed to the CMS Foundation, 4421 Stuart Andrew Blvd., Suite 100, Charlotte, NC 28217.

Anyone with questions can call 980-343-0399 or email info@cms-foundation.org.

Loaves & Fishes

Loaves & Fishes has an immediate need for volunteers to pack emergency food boxes at its Charlotte warehouse, located in Fordham Park at 648 Griffith Road. Various 2-hour volunteer shifts have been added throughout the day.

Register to volunteer at LoavesandFishes.volunteermatrix.com.

Loaves & Fishes also needs donated canned fruit — no sugar added or in juice — as well as canned tuna and canned chicken.

Food donations can be dropped off at the warehouse 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays and at Loves & Fishes food pantries throughout Mecklenburg County. See the list of locations at https://loavesandfishes.org/food-pantries/.

Monetary donations also are welcome on the Loaves & Fishes website or by texting HUNGERACTION to 44321.

“As our community comes together to stop the spread of the COVID 19 virus, we at Loaves & Fishes remain steadfast in our mission to feed our hungry neighbors in need,” leaders posted on the Loaves & Fishes website. “Our staff has been actively working in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, Friendship Trays, CMS Nutrition Services and others to meet the hunger needs of those impacted by this crisis.”

Loaves & Fishes provided groceries to 80,200 people last year, 36% of them children.

Christ Community Friday food collection

Christ Community Church, 16301 Old Statesville Road, Charlotte, will collect food donations for Caterpillar Ministries and Charlotte Rescue Mission 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday.

Both ministries need individual packets of both oatmeal and grits; peanut butter; jelly; boxed macaroni and cheese; canned chicken or tuna; dry milk; rice; cereal; sugar; spaghetti sauce, pasta; canned ravioli; bagged beans.

Drop off any of the items at Christ Community Church, and staff will distribute the food to the two ministry partners, Michael Byrd, pastor of assimilation and local outreach, told the Observer.

Learning Help Centers of Charlotte

Learning Help Centers of Charlotte welcomes volunteers to prepare meals at its catering partner facility and/or deliver meals to children who are home-bound.

Individuals, families and corporations are needed to donate food items to the families the organization serves in the South Boulevard corridor.

LHCC also encourages residents to contact the organization if they know of children in low-income apartment communities who are unable to pick up meals at South Boulevard area feeding centers. Email at info@lhcclt.org.

For more details or to donate on the organization’s homepage, visit www.lhcclt.org.

Classroom Central

Classroom Central urgently needs donations of school supply kits through its website, ClassroomCentral.org.

The organization provides school supplies to students and teachers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the Gaston County, Iredell-Statesville, Union County, Kannapolis and Lancaster County, S.C., school systems.

CMS is recruiting volunteers through its website to help distribute the kits at its meal distribution sites, Beth Levine Cupp, Classroom Central director of development, told the Observer.

Charlotte Rescue Mission

The mission continues to serve the 269 men, women and children currently living under its roof.

To prevent spread of COVID-19, instead of volunteers going to the mission to serve a meal, mission leaders encourage them to sponsor one.

Instead of customers dining at the mission’s Community Matters Cafe, they are encouraged to order a meal for take out or to purchase a gift card.

Instead of completely isolating mission residents from the community, the mission encourages the community to mail notes of hope and encouragement. Mail the notes to Charlotte Rescue Mission, PO Box 33000, Charlotte, NC 28233-3000.

For more ways to help the mission during the pandemic, visit its How to Help during COVID-19 page at https://charlotterescuemission.org.

Ada Jenkins Center

The not-for-profit organization, which helps people who are in poverty in Davidson, Cornelius and Huntersville, has established a Critical Needs Fund for the families it serves.

“As a result of the spread of the Coronavirus, our families are in need like never before,” center officials posted on AdaJenkins.org. “Many of our client-partners are calling in desperation: they need critical assistance, over and above what the Ada Jenkins Center typically provides.”

Donate at https://www.adajenkins.org/impact/donate/.

South Mecklenburg High School food drive

Drop donations off from 8 a.m. to noon. Pick up for pre-made meal bags is from noon to 2 p.m.

Location is Quail Hollow Presbyterian Church at 8801 Park Road, Charlotte.

The food drive is for the week of March 16. If donations keep coming in, volunteers will donate to local food banks.

Feed NC

Feed NC, formerly known as the Mooresville Soup Kitchen, welcomes volunteers to deliver meals to people who are home-bound.

Individuals, families and offices also are needed to donate specific toiletries for Blessing Bags given to FeedNC guests.

FeedNC also encourages residents to contact the organization if they know of people who are home-bound, isolated and in poverty who could use the free meal service.

Details: 704-660-9010; FeedNC.org.

Bags of Hope

The Lake Norman location of the non-profit welcomes volunteers and donations as it distributes food at new drop-off spots, such as churches, for the families it serves.

On Monday, the group dropped off bags at 18 schools in northern Mecklenburg County.

“We’ve been unbelievably blown away by the amount of support and love shared within 72 hours,” Ashley Nydish, the non-profit’s president, told The Charlotte Observer.

To volunteer or donate, email BagsofHopeLKN@gmail.com.

Community Café

Community Café needs more donations of cash and food as its food truck plans to be on the road more days during the coronavirus crisis, Mary Rasmussen, Community Café assistant to the president, said Tuesday.

The cafe, meanwhile, is serving only to-go meals at its locations to protect volunteers and clients from becoming infected, Rasmussen said.

“We are still open at all locations, and we are considering serving at more neighborhoods, based on the availability of volunteers,” she said in an email. “In order to do that, we need access to more food and more donors. Restaurant Depot’s shelves aren’t exactly full these days, just like your local Harris Teeter.”

Community Café is 100% volunteers and receives no government money.

“Everything goes right back to help those in need,” Rasmussen said. “We rely on corporations and private donors to keep our doors open. Right now we need your help more than ever.”

Donations can be made on the GoFundMe at www.gofundme.com/freemeals.

Friendship Trays

Friendship Trays Meals on Wheels of Charlotte-Mecklenburg is accepting donations of nonperishable food items at its Distribution Street office, as it refocuses deliveries during the pandemic on its most vulnerable recipients.

The donations are needed after health advisories forced Friendship Trays to suspend cooking food in its kitchen, according to FriendshipTrays.org.

“The kitchen layout, while very efficient, puts cooks in too-close quarters,” leaders posted. “We have some meals on hand, and anticipate receiving more frozen meals shortly.”

Together with people donating nonperishable food items, according to the post, “using all these resources and perhaps others, we will find ways to meet the nutrition needs among our most vulnerable recipients.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg COVID-19 Response Fund

The COVID-19 Response Fund will support nonprofits helping people most affected by the pandemic, according to the fund’s page on the Foundation for the Carolinas website. “Importantly, this fund will help not just help those who get sick but also those who are economically impacted,” according to the site.

The fund was launched March 16 thanks to a $1 million lead gift from LendingTree and a $1 million matching gift from the city of Charlotte. Howard Levine, former chairman/CEO of Family Dollar Stores, and Truist Financial Corp. also each donated $1 million.

Working closely with the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, grants will be awarded by an advisory group to nonprofits that apply. Applications will be announced soon.

People can donate to the fund online at HelpCharMeck.org. Or by mailing a check to COVID-19 Response Fund, c/o United Way of Central Carolinas/FFTC, P.O. Box 890685, Charlotte, NC 28289-0685.

Corporations and foundations that wish to donate may contact Catherine Warfield, senior vice president of philanthropic advancement at FFTC, at cwarfield@fftc.org; or Clint Hill, chief development officer at United Way of Central Carolinas, at 704-371-6359; chill@uwcentralcarolinas.org.

Noble Food & Pursuits meal effort

Noble Food & Pursuits, the restaurant group behind Rooster’s Wood-Fired Grill, Noble Smoke, Bossy Beulah’s, Copain and The King’s Kitchen, has shifted its focus from “food” to “pursuits” in an increased effort to feed the underserved and homeless in Charlotte amid COVID-19.

The group intends to give high-quality, well-balanced meals to those in need and requires an average $7 per meal to do so. Thanks to King’s Kitchen and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Dream Center, the group is already serving 600 such meals a day but hopes that increased donations will enable serving up to 2,000 meals a day.

Tax-deductible donations, which can be made online, will provide meals to children, teenagers, adults, families and the elderly.

Donate at http://cltdc.org/.

Christian Ministry of Lincoln County

The ministry at 207 S. Poplar St. in Lincolnton is taking food donations as early as 8 a.m. weekdays. Regular hours are 9 a.m.-1 p.m. weekdays.

“Every day brings new challenges,” ministry leaders posted on Facebook Thursday morning. “The longer people are out of work, the more people that will be coming to us for financial help. During the recession of 2008 the community was there for the Ministry, and I know you will be again!”

Financial contributions can be mailed to Christian Ministry of Lincoln County, 207 S. Poplar St., Lincolnton, NC 28092 or donated through its website, ChristianMinistryofLincolnCounty.org.

Prospective volunteers should call Woody Saunders at the ministry office, 704-732-0383.

Nextdoor

The online neighborhood hub announced the launch of a new feature on Friday called Help Map, which allows “those in need to easily identify which neighbors have raised a hand to assist with an errand — or just give a call to check in,” according to a Nextdoor news release.

Charlotte Museum of History

Charlotte Museum of History funding “will be critically impacted by this crisis, and we need your financial support while we continue to serve the community during these challenging times,” Adria Focht, president and CEO, said in an email to potential supporters.

The museum has closed to the public and suspended all public and private events until further notice “to support the health and safety of our visitors, staff, and volunteers,” Focht said.

Staff is working with local schools to offer new digital learning tools for students studying remotely, Focht said.

“In the coming days and weeks, we’ll be providing historic context to this pandemic via our digital platforms, to continue to help people understand the world in which we live,” according to Focht.

Staff also continue to preserve Mecklenburg County’s oldest homesite, Focht said.

Donate at CharlotteMuseum.org.

This list will be updated. Check back for more.