Friends and families gathered at Catholic Parish Outreach Food Pantry in Raleigh on Saturday, April 21st for the 5th Annual Pig Picking and Open House. The event which lasted from 4 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. welcomed over 450 people to the largest food pantry in eastern North Carolina.
Attendees were first treated to a tour of the 15,000 sq. ft. facility which includes space to interview clients and the warehouse that stores the 2.8 million pounds of food distributed annually from Catholic Parish Outreach.
“We get to serve pork, hot dogs, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, hushpuppies and a bake sale.” Terry Foley, Program Director for Catholic Parish Outreach explained. “We have fun things for the kids, we have the Robertson Boys who are a bluegrass band, they are playing for us today.”
The Knights of Columbus from The Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral and Our Lady of Lourdes generously serve as chefs for the event.
Kelly Rappl, Assistant Program Director for Catholic Parish Outreach, explained the importance of this event, “It’s very helpful because at this time of year, not a lot of people are thinking about food. They think about it at the holidays.” Rappl went on to share that, “Food insecurity is with us all the time so this food money that will come in will go directly towards food to help feed people.”
Planning for this event begins in January each year and takes a team to be successful. If you missed this event but would still like to support Catholic Parish Outreach, please visit www.CatholicCharitiesRaleigh.org/donate.