About Love Thy Neighbor
Love Thy Neighbor Community Food Pantry was established in 2012 as a non-profit, volunteer operated, faith-based organization in King George, Virginia to provide nutritional basics and reassurance to others in need. Our first food pantry event was held in December, 2012.
Love Thy Neighbor provides a shopper’s choice food pantry, free of charge. Please see our Calendar for operating hours. Our focus is on food and hygiene items. Many of our guests are seniors, veterans, disabled, unemployed, or living paycheck-to-paycheck trying to make it work.
Most of our patrons live in King George county, but lots of folks from nearby counties also shop with us and are welcome. In addition, we share information and resources to help guide our neighbors in the right direction for particular services they may need. We serve an average of 215 families per week (as of December 2022).
We are a 100% volunteer organization and are blessed with faithful volunteers who assist with the tasks at hand to make it all happen. Love Thy Neighbor’s team is made up of dedicated volunteers with diverse cultural and denominational backgrounds. Some help every week while others help when they are able. If you are interested, please sign up to Volunteer! Thank you for all your generosity and faithfulness!
How the Pantry Works
Love Thy Neighbor is a ‘patron-choice’ food pantry, which allows families and individuals to shop in an attractive setting organized similar to a grocery store. A wide range of breakfast items, canned goods (tuna, chicken, vegetables, fruit, soup), peanut butter and jelly, boxed pasta meals, spaghetti sauce with pasta, produce, bread, frozen meat, and on occasion refrigerated foods are offered at no cost to patrons. Hygiene items like soap, shampoo, and toothpaste are sometimes available. Our ‘patron-choice’ pantry upholds the dignity of the families and individuals we serve. The advantages of a ‘patrons-choice’ pantry are:
- A sense of self-esteem for patrons and their families
- Higher patron satisfaction with food they are able to choose
- Less waste and, therefore, less cost in providing food to patrons
- Greater opportunities for positive and supportive social interaction between LTN volunteers and patrons
Even so, a lot of what we give away is the “leftovers” – produce and meat that have not sold in a grocery store, and so have been donated to us. Sometimes the quality is good, sometimes not. We would like to do better; we would like to consistently offer high quality products to our patrons, giving them better and healthier choices, instead of forcing them to take someone else’s leavings. You can help by making a donation.
Partners Past and Future
Almost all of our funding comes from local individuals, churches, and businesses. Love Thy Neighbor partners with the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank to get food at below-retail prices. One of our goals is to increase our donations; this would help us to provide more nutritional food choices, promote supplemental programs to help individuals become more self-sufficient, and work toward additional services to assist in our Community’s physical and mental health needs.
We have partnered with many other non-profits, such as the Lunch Bunch Program, Project Inasmuch, MARS Hill Youth Events, Senior Navigator, TRIAD, and DECA. We actively support the King George Community Alliance. We love to support local churches that provide mobile food pantries in the county.
There are many within the King George area and surrounding counties who have reached out to help in our effort ~ businesses, organizations, churches, friends, and neighbors. Please visit our Volunteer page for ways you can help.
Board of Directors
The Love Thy Neighbor board of directors, as of December 2022, is:
Ryan Ragsdale, President
Christine Robinson, Vice-President
Priscilla Morgan, Treasurer
Ryan Wankel
Matthew Hahn
