Norwood Fish Pantry is located in the basement of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 5401 Tiffany Rd., Knoxville, TN 37912.  This pantry has been operated by St. Thomas and New Hope Presbyterian Church for many years on the first Friday of each month.

Our primary goal is to provide emergency food help for a family of 4 for 3 days.  We have a list of items that is provided by FISH Hospitality Pantries as a guideline for basic nutritional needs.  Since we do most of our purchasing at Second Harvest Food Bank, we are not always able to obtain all of the items on the list, but we make substitutions that will fill the nutritional requirements.

Our funding comes from the generous donations of members of the above congregations.  We also have received money from the yard sales at New Hope, contributions of food, toiletries, and household cleaning items from church members, proceeds from the Hunger Hike, and the “Souper Bowl” meal donations.

A number of members from each church help each month with shopping, packing the food bags, hosting the pantry on the day we are open, and delivering food when the client does not have the means to pick up the food.  Our operation begins at 9:00 a.m. on the first Friday and we answer the phone until we give out the number of bags we have packed.  This is usually between 45 and 50 bags.  We have extra items like soap, toilet tissue, toothpaste, shampoo, dishwashing liquid, and laundry detergent that our churches donate.  These items are frequently requested and are provided when we have them.  We also have diapers, depends and other toiletries that we share when they are available.

Each client is required to give basic information such as name, address, telephone number and number of persons in their household.  We do not ask for a lot of information about income or personal situations.  Our job is to feed those who request it.  There is a brown paper grocery bag with canned goods and other non-perishable food items.  A plastic grocery bag with cereal, crackers, a roll of toilet paper and sometimes a snack item or juice is second and a third bag has a dozen eggs, a stick of margarine, and a small loaf of bread.

Bill Marshall is the pantry contact at St. Thomas.  He and I do the shopping to be sure we have all the needed supplies.  Second Harvest Food Bank, has moved to Alcoa, so we have to drive 25 miles each way to shop.  They have started an online ordering system that will have our order ready for us when we get there.  We can actually take our vehicle into the building it is so large.  This will keep us from getting wet, frozen or sunburned while picking up the food.  This did not work too well the first time, but like any new operation, I’m sure it will improve.

We are limited by the amount of space we have as to how many people we can serve.  Many of the people we provide for, say that our pantry does the best job of any they have contacted.  It is a joy to see the faces of those we help when they get their groceries.

Thanks to all of you for your generosity and your concern for those in need.  If you have questions about the food pantry or would like to help, please click here.