How We Got Started

Ms. R Claudette Fiskin, M.S.W. Foundress, Bread for Life Senior Pantry, 2006.  She started gleaning food and sharing it with her neighbors in White Oak Apartments in 2006.  Over time, she got volunteers to help, expanded contacts with grocery stores, and became a ministry under St. Mark Catholic Church in Wilmington NC, and it was called Bread For Life. She began to receive grants and donations and the pantry became a partner of the Central and Eastern Food Bank of NC.  Over time, the organization was housed in various churches in Wilmington and finally occupied 108 N. Kerr Avenue, renting suites K-1 and K-2.  The organization was incorporated as a North Carolina nonprofit in 2018, changed its name to Bread for Life Senior Pantry, and became a 501(c)3 in 2019.  As Bread for Life Senior Pantry expanded, it purchased additional space in the adjoining suite K-2.