CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/24236
g iving DELICIOUS “DOUGH”NATIONS The Fayetteville City Rescue Mission works with local restaurants to feed the hungry | By Kelly Twedell “Each morning the box is always empty as people take what they need.” -Gladys Thompson H unger resides in the child who sits next to yours at school, in the house down the block from yours and in many other places where you might not expect it. Few people know this better than Gladys Thompson, Executive Director of The Fayetteville City Rescue Mission. Her program, Operation Doughnation, works with local restaurants to provide food for those in need. After Panera Bread closes every night, all of the store’s leftover breads, bagels and fancy pastries are donated and loaded into a volunteer’s vehicle. Back at the Rescue Mission, Thompson and other volunteers bag the donations into about 160 plastic bags and then they leave a bread box full of the bagged items on the porch each night. “Each morning the box is always empty as people take what they need,” said Thompson. Other restaurants involved in the endeavor include the Pizza Huts on Ramsey Street and near 71st High School. Leftover pizzas are served for hot meals at the mission daily from noon to 1:30 p.m. Starbucks locations also participate by donating their leftover pastries each day to be used as desserts for the program and every Sunday leftover brunch fare is picked up from the Highland Country Club to aid in the Mission’s goal of providing hot, nutritious meals for the homeless and for those who need help feeding their families. The Fayetteville City Rescue Mission was established in 1974 and Thompson CityViewNC.com | 65