Washburn Community Outreach Center (WCOC) is a ministry of Salem United Methodist Church, a 2024 Come to the Table grantee in North Carolina. WCOC is a drive-through, no-appointments needed food pantry operating every Thursday and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. WCOC also has an on-site thrift store, and recreation facility open to the public with a walking track, basketball court, horseshoe pit, playground, and areas meant for gathering. Salem UMC and WCOC received a small grant from Come to the Table to support the purchase and distribution of fresh, local produce from county farmers to food pantry participants.
In June, Come to the Table staff visited Washburn Community Outreach Center on a food distribution day. Despite the heat, close to 20 volunteers fluttered about the newly constructed pantry, which had garage doors for ease of unloading and loading food items. Despite the consistent flow of clients, Lindy Abrams, WCOC’s director, made time to chat with our staff.
“I have been [at WCOC] for about two years. I was in agriculture before; I was an organic farmer during the COVID-19 lockdown and then moved back home,” Lindy explained when introducing herself. Lindy’s background in farming is part of why she wants to see WCOC’s clients receive locally grown produce: “The fresh farm produce is bringing me a lot of satisfaction; I feel it’s impactful with the local food system: it’s not just about our clients getting access, not just about the farmers being valued — it’s all of the above. We’re paying [farmers] what they’re worth, and they feel valued and respected in that transaction.”
Lindy has been instrumental in connecting the pieces of the food system in Rutherford County. Lindy identified a problem with local food access in Rutherford County: Plenty of farmers in the area travel out of the county to Charlotte or Asheville for market opportunities. Lindy’s background in farming allows her to see the value in growing food, and she desires to pay farmers fair prices for their food. She also understands that if the pantry can buy produce in bulk and lower transportation costs to markets outside the county, it will save the farmer the time, supply, and labor costs of getting that produce to other outlets. “There is limited market availability here; many farmers go to Asheville and Charlotte. Having more farmers stay here makes me feel pretty successful,” Lindy said when explaining how she works with local farmers in her area.
Each week, WCOC serves between 300 and 400 families and individuals from Bostic and surrounding towns, which are as far as 20-30 minutes away. Lindy speaks highly of the volunteer help WCOC has each week and understands it’s not just about the number of volunteers ready to help. “We need volunteers who are comfortable with the technology pieces,” Lindy explains. This is especially true on the Food Pantry side of the outreach center, which has recently switched to an online application system, Link2Feed.”
Lindy has ambitions of making the drive-through pantry more of a pantry of choice, though she knows that with the drive-through model, that may take some thinking and logistics. Lindy’s love for local food and food access is clear in what she shared with Come to the Table during our visit, and her work is felt throughout the area, which is evident in how highly other grantees in the county spoke of what she has brought to WCOC and Rutherford County.