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By Vladimir Vásquez

For the Clemmons Courier

CLEMMONS — February has arrived in Clemmons, and the village is ready for its annual campaign, Neighbors Helping Neighbors. The initiative calls for people to donate food or volunteer for those in need. 

It is a month-long education and collection campaign to create awareness of the Clemmons Food Pantry, but also, of the huge population of people in need that this village has at this moment, who do not have basic food for their families, despite some of them having a job.

“This year we are forgoing an actual in-person event, but instead encourage not only the residents of Clemmons to give to the pantry, but also to get our local businesses and organizations involved,” Clemmons Event Coordinator Lynette Fox said.

The collections event focuses on getting canned or packed food like rice, grits, salad dressings, vegetable oil, canned tuna, peanut butter, jelly/jam, canned tomatoes, snack crackers, granola bars, ketchup/mustard or flour. 

Mike Sullivan, the food pantry’s director added that “we can accept shelf-stable foods that are unopened and labeled (with ingredients). It’s good to have a variety of beans, rice, pasta and baking supplies.” 

As Sullivan explained, a criteria that people can use to determine if the food they want to donate is good for others is that “if you enjoy something, others likely will, too.” 

People can also make dollar contributions, volunteer time or simply educate neighbors and loved ones, who may need help, that there is a Food Bank that can provide feeding for all those in need. 

A year-round issue 

During a year, the Clemmons Food Pantry serves 13,217 different people, some of them will go back many times and others will only go once, but the total number of visitors they got during the period is 40,900. 

For each visitor, the Clemmons Pantry provides 4-5 days worth of groceries. The pantry works as a typical grocery shop. The shelves contain the foods provided to the families, making it easy for donors to realize what types are needed at the moment of the visit. 

The amount of food that they get depends strictly on the income of the families, meaning that some will get more items than others, “but if you walk in because you need food for tomorrow, you will leave with food — nobody is denied food,” Sullivan said. 

Families increasing needs 

In 2024, the pantry got an increase in food demand from the families in Clemmons — 27 percent compared to last year’s needs. Before COVID, they didn’t see 900 families, but after the pandemic that’s average for a month. This year will see another increase and the expectations are that, at least, 1,000 families will arrive for assistance. 

“Amazingly, we were able to keep up with that demand. We went from distributing 496,000 pounds of food to 633,000 (from 2023 to 2024),” Sullivan said. To keep the assistance coming, he and his team are always encouraging people, businesses, churches, organizations and neighborhoods to donate. 

The Neighbors Helping Neighbors campaign also hosts different activities to encourage people to donate. The cereal box domino challenge is a campaign that will match up to 5,000 boxes of cereal if people donate, at least, 2,500 unopened boxes of cereal during the month. 

Last year, Fox added, Clemmons Elementary School got all the students involved in collecting cereal boxes for the pantry. “They set up a huge domino run with all the boxes donated and filmed before sending it to us at the pantry,” she said. 

The students managed to collect 2,700 boxes, and, for this year, they are planning to beat last year’s collection number, so they have already begun the drive. 

In a typical month, the pantry collects about 9-10 food drives donated by the community. “During this campaign last year we had 16 groups collecting food on our behalf. Last year, the Clemmons Rotary also conducted a fund drive to support our work — which is always helpful,” Sullivan said.  

Several ways to donate

In 2022, the census for Clemmons put its poverty rate at 6.76 percent with a population of 21,281 with an increase of 1.18 percent per year. That’s why the food pantry is so important for the village and they pick the whole month to encourage people to help. 

During 2024, 40 percent of the people who went to the food bank for assistance were children, 10 percent were seniors, and, of all the adults, more than a third were employed, this might give everyone an idea about how poverty is impacting their communities despite age or working situation. 

If someone decides to ask for food at the pantry, the process is very simple as explained by Sullivan: “On a person’s first visit, we set up an account in a database managed by Second Harvest Food Bank for them. We will ask for people’s addresses, and the names, date of birth, and income of everyone who lives at that address as required by regulations. Depending on income, you may qualify for a little more food.”

For all of those struggling right now, Fox said that the food pantry serves all of those who are in need in Forsyth County, but, also, everyone outside the village can receive food if they request at the food bank. 

For people willing to volunteer or any business that wants to host a coin jar, collection box or even those who want to take a tour through the food pantry, they can call their offices at 336-331-3432. All the money raised and donations will go to the Clemmons Food Pantry. 

The drop-off locations are as follows: Jerry Long Family YMCA, Clemmons Food Pantry, Clemmons Village Hall, Clemmons Public Works, Chick-fil-A in Clemmons, and Piedmont Federal.