The food pantry at Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher is changing its name as it prepares to move into a new 5,000-square-foot building in coming weeks.

“We’re excited about what we’re going to be able to do,” said the Rev. J. Clarkson, priest in charge at Calvary Episcopal.

The pantry changed its name recently from the Calvary Episcopal Church Food Pantry to the Calvary Center of Hope and Food Pantry.

The change, Clarkson said, is a reflection of the increased community outreach opportunities the new building will allow the church to explore.

“We don’t have a particular ministry in mind,” he said. “But it gives us the opportunity to do more.”

The church held a dedication ceremony to bless and officially change the name of the food pantry on Feb. 19. The event included a blessing by the Rev. Jose McLoughlin, the Episcopal Bishop of Western North Carolina. Clarkson, Fletcher Mayor Rod Whiteside and Marilyn Bradt, president of the food pantry board, also spoke during the ceremony.

Calvary began work on the new building for the food pantry on its property last year after deciding the church needed more space to serve the growing number of people who rely on the pantry for food each week.

By fall last year, the church had raised more than $300,000 from individuals and local organizations for the building project. Leaders estimated the project could cost as much as $500,000.

Local contractors and building supply companies also made donations to keep the cost of the building down.

Workers are continuing to complete the final touches on the new building. They are focusing on completing paint, flooring, gutters and landscaping. The church expects to begin using the new pantry in a few weeks.

“It might be a couple of weeks after the dedication,” Clark said. “The way it was built, with so much volunteer contribution of materials and labor, that altered the schedule. It worked out well.”

Clark said he did not yet know the total cost of the new building. But he said he expected it will be several hundred thousand dollars less that it would have been without all the donations the church received.

The food pantry at Calvary is designated as a very large food pantry as scored by MANNA FoodBank, and an authorized distributor of federal SAM and Henderson County TEFAP food. On average, it provides 3,530 meals weekly.

The pantry is currently squeezed into three Sunday school classrooms in the church. Sharing space with the classrooms requires volunteers to pull shopping carts in and out of the rooms and hallways to serve people who rely on the pantry each week.

“We are limited in how much food can be stocked and stored,” Clarkson has said. “The challenge is having enough.”

The new building will allow the church to stock more food. It will also including a waiting room for people who visit the pantry. The new pantry will also allow people to make choices about the food they want to take, Clarkson has said.

“We are a client choice food pantry. It is like a grocery store,” he said. “They choose the items they are most likely to eat. This new building will give us the space to operate that way as opposed to being squeezed into three classrooms.”

In 2019, the food pantry averaged serving 120 families and almost 500 people each week.

Clarkson said he expected similar numbers in 2020.

In addition to giving the church more space to serve the growing number of people who visit the food pantry, the new building will also likely be used for any other ministry needs the church sees in the community in the future.

“We just know it gives us the opportunity to think about additional ministries,” Clarkson said.

The food pantry at Calvary Episcopal opened in 2009 and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2011.

Calvary members Carol Romine and Lois Pryor led the effort to open the pantry after seeing a need in the community, according to a press release from the church.

“These ladies saw a need and stepped up to meet it and in the process began a ministry which changed thousands of lives,” according to the press release.

The goal of the pantry is to provide at least half a week’s provisions per weekly visit. The pantry strives to provide 45 to 50 percent of a family’s needs in fruits, vegetables and grains and 25 percent of its milk needs and 90 percent of its protein requirements.

Clarkson said he thinks the food pantry’s growth is a function of word getting out that it is available and of the increasing number of people who need help.

“People know we’re here and dependable,” he said.

Food pantry clients come from many different backgrounds. They include working families with children who struggle to make ends meet, individuals who are unable to find work and senior citizens who live on a fixed income, Clarkson said.

The church welcomes all people who come to the pantry for help. The pantry is open on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

For more information about Calvary Episcopal Church, visit calvaryfletcher.org.