Riverside Community Pantry 2024 Annual Report: Narrative Package
1. Theme & Headline Options
- Neighbors Feeding Neighbors. 212 volunteers, 6,800 hours, and a year of showing up for one another.
- Room at the Table. How 1,140 households found food and a warm welcome at Riverside in 2024.
- Growing Together. 48,200 pounds of food, up 34% from last year, and fresher than ever.
- Showing Up, Week After Week. Thursday evenings, Saturday mornings, and a new route to seniors' front doors.
- No Neighbor Goes Hungry. Our mission at work across 45402, 45403, and 45410.
Recommended: "Neighbors Feeding Neighbors." It captures the year's real story: a volunteer-run pantry where a mom who came for help now helps on Saturdays, high schoolers set a giving record, and drivers bring both groceries and company to seniors.
2. Letter from the Leader
Forty-eight thousand, two hundred pounds.
That's how much food Riverside Community Pantry shared with our neighbors in 2024. It's 12,200 pounds more than the year before. Behind that number are 1,140 households and 3,600 people: families, seniors, and college students from the 45402, 45403, and 45410 zip codes. Together they made 9,850 visits to Grace Fellowship Church on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings.
This was a year of reaching further. In March we launched Saturday Senior Delivery, bringing groceries straight to seniors' homes. By December, 85 seniors were enrolled and our drivers had made 1,900 deliveries. One of those seniors, a retired bus driver, told his driver that the weekly visit is sometimes the only conversation he has all week. I think about that often. A delivery is groceries, and it can also be a friendly face at the door.
It was also a year of fresher food. Thanks to our partners at Miller Family Farm and the Dayton Grows community garden, fresh produce now makes up about 40 percent of what we give out.
And it was a year of remarkable generosity. In November, the Fairview High School Key Club ran a canned food drive that brought in 3,000 pounds, the biggest single drive in our history. In August we handed out 320 backpacks for the new school year, and at Thanksgiving we shared 410 holiday meal boxes.
None of this happens without people. This year, 212 volunteers gave 6,800 hours. Jasmine is one of them. She's a mom of three who first came to us last spring after her husband was laid off. "The pantry got us through the hardest month we've had," she told us. "Nobody made me feel ashamed." Today she volunteers on Saturdays. That, to me, is what Riverside is all about: neighbors feeding neighbors.
To our individual donors, our host family at Grace Fellowship Church, our partner congregations, our grant partners including the Dayton Foundation, and everyone who joined us at the Harvest Dinner: thank you. You made every one of those 48,200 pounds possible.
Looking ahead to 2025, we have two big goals. First, we want to raise $40,000 for a walk-in freezer so we can accept more fresh and frozen donations. We've already set aside $15,000 from 2024 toward it. Second, we plan to add a Tuesday evening distribution for working families who can't make our current hours.
Our mission is simple: no neighbor goes hungry. Thank you for walking alongside us. I can't wait to see what we'll do together this year.
With gratitude,
Maria Lopez Executive Director, Riverside Community Pantry
3. Year at a Glance
| Stat | Number | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Food distributed | 48,200 lbs | Every pound went to a neighbor's kitchen table. |
| Growth over 2023 | +34% (up from 36,000 lbs) | We shared about a third more food than the year before. |
| Unique households served | 1,140 | Over a thousand families, seniors, and students came to us for help. |
| Individuals served | 3,600 | That's 3,600 neighbors, from toddlers to grandparents. |
| Total visits | 9,850 | Neighbors came back again and again, and we were there each time. |
| Volunteers | 212 | Riverside is powered by neighbors who show up. |
| Volunteer hours | 6,800 | That's about 32 hours from each volunteer, on average. |
| Senior Delivery | 85 seniors enrolled, 1,900 deliveries | Groceries and a friendly visit, brought right to the door. |
| Back-to-school backpacks | 320 | Kids started the school year ready to learn. |
| Thanksgiving meal boxes | 410 | Hundreds of families shared a holiday meal at home. |
2024 Highlights
- March: Launched Saturday Senior Delivery, our first home delivery program.
- All year: Fresh produce grew to about 40% of what we give out, thanks to Miller Family Farm and Dayton Grows community garden.
- November: The Fairview High School Key Club's canned food drive brought in 3,000 lbs, our biggest single drive ever.
- December: Ended the year with $15,000 set aside toward a walk-in freezer.
4. Our Programs & Impact
Weekly Pantry Distribution
Our weekly pantry is the heart of Riverside. Every Thursday from 4 to 7 pm and every Saturday from 9 am to noon, volunteers open the doors at Grace Fellowship Church in Dayton. They welcome families, seniors, and college students from the 45402, 45403, and 45410 zip codes.
In 2024, those doors opened to more neighbors than ever. We served 1,140 unique households, which is 3,600 individuals, across 9,850 visits. On average, each household visited between eight and nine times during the year. That tells us Riverside is a place people can count on, week after week. Altogether, we distributed 48,200 pounds of food, up from 36,000 pounds in 2023. That's an increase of 12,200 pounds, or about 34 percent.
Why does it matter? Because a reliable pantry can carry a family through a hard season. Jasmine, a mom of three who came to us after her husband was laid off, put it best: "The pantry got us through the hardest month we've had. Nobody made me feel ashamed." Food and dignity go together here. That's how we work toward our mission