In most low-income neighborhoods, fully stocked, clean grocery stores are scarce while fast food restaurants and poorly supplied bodegas abound. Capitalizing on its recognized expertise in nutritional issues and direct food services to underserved communities, FoodChange launched the Pantry in 2003 to promote access to nutritious foods and offer the Harlem community better choices in their diet.

Organized like a supermarket, FoodChange's Food Pantry allows eligible Harlem residents to obtain fresh produce and packaged, frozen, and canned food items, free of charge. In addition to general items, the Pantry carries products meeting the nutritional needs of clients with special dietary requirements, such as people with high blood pressure, diabetes or HIV/AIDS.

The Food Pantry has the capacity to enroll up to 1,500 families. A screening process based on several factors including income, family composition, and residence, determines eligibility. If qualifying, the client goes through an intake process and is issued a Pantry card; each participant's eligibility is revisited every six months.

Customers access the Pantry once a month and receive a total of nine meals—three meals for three days—for each household member.

The Pantry, located in the same building as our Community Kitchen at 252 West 116th Street (between 7th Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard) is open four days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM, and Thursday from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM.

On Thursdays, special hours are designated for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA).  Every member of our PLWA program is automatically eligible to receive Pantry food in addition to the Kitchen’s dinner meals.  Clients may select items once per week for the HIV/AIDS member of the household and once per month for the other members of the household. 

In 2005, approximately 192,000 individual meals were distributed. Currently, our supplies allow us to accommodate an average of 100 clients per day. We offer approximately 15,300 Pantry meals to a total of 1,700 people each month.

For more information, contact Jesse Taylor, Senior Director, Community Kitchen/Senior Meals, at jtaylor@foodchange.org.