Two local hunger-relief groups have broken ties with another that collects food from front porches throughout Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
Earlier this month, the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service and the TABLE organization told PORCH (People Offering Relief for Chapel Hill Carrboro Homes) they would no longer accept its food donations.
PORCH collects non-perishable food from porches every month and distributes bags of groceries to eight area pantries and food programs. Those programs included the IFC, which runs a food pantry, and TABLE, which provides food to elementary students during the weekends and holidays when they’re not receiving free or reduced-price lunch at school.
IFC executive director Chris Moran said the IFC is no longer accepting PORCH’s food because PORCH’s mission has changed. In addition to collecting food, PORCH has a direct food service program called Food for Families, where it uses monetary donations to buy fresh food for Burmese refugees and others it says may have trouble using food pantries.
“It’s not about not wanting PORCH’s food, it’s about the fact that the PORCH’s mission has changed from collecting food to ... developing their own food service programs,” Moran said Monday. “When those situations arise, there’s going to be ultimately less donations to all of the groups they originally agreed to support because they’ve developed something that’s new that we hope donors will help to support.”
