B.R.E.A.D. stands for Blessings Received Each Appointed Day.
We are a non-profit organization 501 (C) (3) that has been in business for 15 years.All donations are tax deductible.
B.R.E.A.D. Inc. is led by President, Dorothy Lowery
All work is volunteer and most of our food is donated. We share the love of Jesus Christ to those in need, by providing food and groceries to the homeless, elderly, and low-income individuals and/or families of Gaston County. Our source of income to meet our monthly rent/utilities/food transportation costs comes from generous hearts like yours who care about those in need and our from our God who has never let us down.
A wave to you from Terry in the window where drinks are picked up.
Please check our Facebook page at B.r.e.a.d., Inc. We would love to share our stories with you.
Current Needs
Our current needs inlcude:Any donation of food, paper products, personal products
Produce
Canned food
A small box truck with lift gate, or cargo van.
Someone with a truck who could drive even once a week to help us.
Caring citizens willing to donate $10/month to help us meet our building rent and utilities.
A larger building. We currently rent 5,000 sq. feet and could really use a larger location. We need parking to accomodate at least 50. We currently have 10 parking spaces.
2014
April
Get your Donation Matched!Community Foundation of Gastonia will partially match every donation made to BREAD through their website. Last year they matched at about 40%. Your donations go the farthest this time of year to help feed the hungry! Select BREAD, Inc. as your charity at this site. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/RunfortheMoney12?code=RUNwebsitedonations
March
Skarkey's Place Raw Bar & Grill is having problems with some street people bathing in their sinks and using their outdoor dining area as a bathroom, etc. They created the "Bum" t-shirts to bring awareness to their problem. At BREAD we help with food but I wonder if street people have a bathroom accessible to them. Sue Ann Robb, owner of Running With Scissors, joined with other businesses to create a different T-shirt "Support Downtown Gastonia." Proceeds from these shirts are being donated to BREAD. Maybe we at BREAD can discover what the real need is and be part of the solution!
http://www.gastongazette.com/spotlight/sharkey-s-under-fire-for-t-shirts-updated-1.293971
http://www.gastongazette.com/spotlight/sharkey-s-under-fire-for-t-shirts-updated-1.293971
RUN FOR THE MONEY
Looking for 5k runners, 2k walkers to join us April 12 to raise funds for BREAD! Sign up at this site and start getting sponsors that have a heart for families in need. Meet us at our booth on Run Day. Many local charities will be represented in the race. We would love to have you representing BREAD, Inc.!
Prize Money for 5K race
Best time overall: Male / Female $1,000 each
First Place Second Place
Male Female Male Female
12 years and under $500
$500 $250 $250
13 -
18 $500 $500 $250 $250
19 -
29 $500 $500 $250 $250
30 -
39 $500 $500 $250 $250
40 -
49 $500 $500 $250 $250
50 -
59 $500 $500 $250 $250
60 & Up $500
$500 $250 $250
http://cfgaston.org/runforthemoney/default.aspx
February: Groceries provided 1,179 times. Numbers down a little due to snows.
January
We were closed our first week due to freezing temperatures. Our warehouse is unheated. Brrrrr!
Nelson Hope is the owner of Carolina Burglar and Fire Alarm Service. He provides our security system and we are so grateful to him. If you are in Gaston county and want awesome security service, they are the only security service that provides local monitoring. The cost is $175 installation and $20/month. They are the oldest alarm company in Gaston County. Nelson live true to his name. Children are his heart. He gives them "Hope" by teaching music to struggling kids and helps orphanages.
2013 totals!
Groceries provided 19,996 times helping 50,752 counting family members
December: Groceries provided (including Christmas food boxes!) 2,813 times.
Thanks to TYSON foods providing generous discounts for us we were able to provide some meat in our Christmas distribution boxes to the first 110 clients on Tuesday and Thursday! Many individual donors who brought bags of groceries and gave donations made it possible for us to add enough extras for a Christmas meal in each box. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Hundreds of families were blessed this year due to your caring hearts and making what we do possible.
November: Groceries provided 3,164 times
Thanks to downtown businesses Running with Scissors and Retro Sideshow Vintage and Thrift we received 300 cans of food donated during the October Zombie walk they sponsored. Owner, Sue Ann Robb has a real heart for the bringing life to the downtown are and helping those in need. http://www.gastongazette.com/spotlight/shops-cater-to-downtown-gastonia-s-hipster-influx-1.207415
Thank you to Food Lion for their contribution! They gave us two $50 gift cards to purchase extra goodies for our Christmas food boxes. We hope to put the makings of a Christmas meal in our December food boxes and the gift cards will be a big help!
November 14-25 Community One Bank in Gastonia is hosting a food drive for BREAD. This will be a huge help to us as we try to provide extra items for our Christmas food boxes. This bank has a 100-year history with free checking. We are so grateful for their caring outreach! 804 S. New Hope Road (corner of New Hope and Garrison). https://www.community1.com/hp_View.aspx
October: We provided groceries 2,084 times to area families in need.
September, Groceries provided 1,424 times representing families members totaling 3,677
August, Clients served 2023 times
We've averaged 440 clients per week this month. Some have talked about their struggles with the technical delays of food stamps. Many are unemployed. Most people come to receive, but one anonymous person came to give. They slid this envelope under our door with cash in it. Whoever you are. We thank you for sharing your love.
July: Clients served 1591 times
2 of our volunteers got married! Volunteering can change your life! We have no paid staff. Everyone is a volunteer and everyone is highly prized. Congratulations to Sherry and Art!
Great thanks to Gloria Solomon and her great youth group from Providence Place Christian Academy that came to volunteer 2 Mondays in a row. They bagged drinks for us to give away. Each week we had over 400 clients and each one gets a bag. So that's a lot of drink bagging to do. We were grateful for this enthusiastic bunch!
A truck from Texas was passing through our area and ended up with about 40 cases of pasta left over. They heard about us and brought it over. What a surprise and blessing that was!
June
May: Groceries provided 2045 times to those in need.
Thank you to ALL our contributors who made donations through the Community Foundation during the Run for the Money promotion. We are excited that these funds will be partially matched by race proceeds. We are grateful to the Community Foundation for it's great work in helping area non-profits raise money to support their efforts to help those in our community. Dedicated hands, working together, make a big difference!Steve, owner of the new Bacon, Inc. (near Monkey Joes in Gastonia) brought us a donation to help feed the hungry. Even with all the expensive challenges of opening a new restaurant, he still cares about his community. We decided to thank him in person and visit his restaurant. Ever eat a deep-fried bacon-wrapped moon pie? Or a secret recipe burger that included ground bacon? or bacon salted home-made potato chips? We had a bacon-liscous visit!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bacon-Inc-Bar-and-Grill/419399681472329?fref=ts
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| Steve at Bacon, Inc welcomes Mrs. Lowery. |
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| Bread, Inc volunteers visit Bacon, Inc. |
April: Groceries provided 1570 times to those in need.
****************
No April Fools! A listener who watched the news broadcast (below) worked to get us a truck of supplies! We'll open on April 9 restocked so we can continue to share with those who come. How blessed we are! And so grateful!
March:Groceries provided 1738 times to those in need.
We're going to be on Time Warner Cable News 14 tonight. Will post the linlk tomorrow. Our supplies are low right now at a time when there could be a jump in demand due to a problem with food stamps reported on last night's News 14. More details to come!
http://charlotte.news14.com/content/top_stories/691653/gaston-co--food-bank-set-to-close-because-of-low-supplies
We will be closed April 1-7. Our warehouse is nearly bare.
February: Groceries provided 1680 times to those in need.
Gastonia's RUN FOR THE MONEY April 20.
There's a 5K run, 2K walk and matching donation opportunities.
Stop by our booth for a free drink. We'd love to see you there!
Donating to BREAD at the link below is the best way to donate between now and April 20 because donations are matched by event proceeds.
http://cfgaston.org/runforthemoney/default.aspx
Our new treasure! Old and beat up but it works! Unloading a truck just got hugely easier. We are so grateful for this donation from an old textile mill. We served 219 who stood in line for groceries yesterday. Thank you all for your generosity and care
We were so blessed to receive a donation of "bananas!" Well we started giving out the bananas and discovered they were Plantains! We cut one open and tasted it and had to spit it out. It was hard and bitter. Well, one of the 15 programs that we help, works with hispanic families. So we sent plantains their way. The received the plantains like gold. It was Christmas. The exclamations never stopped. It is a big favorite! They chop up the "bananas" and cook them like potatoes or wait til they are yellow and bake them with milk and sugar and vanilla. We are grateful for all the unique ways God provides for us and the unusual blessings He enjoys sending our way through open-hearted donors.
January: Groceries were provided 1813 times this month to needy families.
Special thanks so Jim Smothers and USAIRWAYS! US AIR has a Flights for 50 program. Jim faithfully volunteered every Monday and accumulated 50 hours for which USAIR donated a $500 gift card to BREAD! How grateful we are to Jim for his faithful service to care for those in need and for the support of US AIR to encourage their employees to help the community! Jim is featured on our Donations page.
2012
Details: We provided food 23,813 times this year to those in need!
DECEMBER was exciting!
Thanks to a very kind donor, we received 400 hams to make Christmas dinner a WOW event for 400 of our families. With other donation that came in we were able to give a box of food with those hams so that Christmas did not have to be bleak for those in need this year. See our pictures on Facebook. Long lines waited for this big blessing and it was a joy to have something so wonderful to provide for our clients. Merry Christmas to all our donors and may the love you've shared be returned to you in hundreds of ways this coming year.Big Thanks to the Bethesda United Methodist Chruch Day School! They had a can drive and collected canned and non-perishable foods that we need so much. They brought 24 bags full of food! Wow! What a great bunch of kids! More pics available on Facebook.
Donations have come in from individuals of collected food and financial donations. You are the foundation we stand on. You are what keeps our doors open! Please receive our love and thanks for you make it possible for us to give and we are SO grateful for you.
Grateful thanks to Food Lion for their corporate donation of $250! It sure came at a good time. Due to increased demand our supplies are stretched thin. See the picture on our donations page of what we were able to purchase! The W.Garrison store in Gastonia was very helpful and thoughtful to us.
NOVEMBER: Food provided to 1878 this month!
Cart fulls of thanks to Save-A-lot Grocery Stores. Our food supplies are pretty low. Just in time we received $300 from Save-A-Lot corporate to purchase some healthy variety of food for our food boxes! What a great staff at the W. Franklin, Gastonia store. See the picture on our donations page.
Special thanks to RANLO Baptist Church for a loving gift of $188. We so appreciate the help to meet our expenses. Thank you for your continued help to get our drinks bagged up and ready for our clients. You are a group that cares and shares!
Thanksgiving was HUGE! Thanks so an awesomely generous local business owner 100s of our families received Thanksgiving dinner with Ham and all the fixins. We can just imagine the suprise and joy for the children of those struggling families who aren't used to having a chance to enjoy good food like that!
Our own Mrs. Lowery, was honored for her years of service to the community. A special service and luncheon was planned for her by the Ephesus SDA Church. 6 of our clients also attended this event. See the pictures under the Events tab.
Great thanks to AMERICORPS for their group of volunteers who came to help us for Make a Difference Day. They sure made a difference to us! They painted, sorted clothes and food donations, and cleaned the kitchen area. Plus they were delightful to work with, willing and caring. See their pictures here under the tab Volunteer Groups. See their pictures on the Volunteer Groups page.
OCTOBER
Huge service month. We gave out groceries 2,307 times this month! That includes weekly distribution of breads, drinks and salad; and monthly food boxes that a family can receive.
THANKS to FAMILY DOLLAR for a $100 gift card donation. We purchased much needed cleaning and kitchen supplies. We are grateful that you are making a difference in your community! We shopped at the store on 3125 Dallas High Shoals Hwy, Dallas, NC.
Volunteers! Great thanks to RANLO BAPTIST CHURCH for coming on Mondays to help bag drinks!
What a great and caring bunch you are! What a blessing! See pictures on the Volunteer page.
Thanks ever so much for your help! If your group or club could help anytime, please give us a call!
SEPTEMBER. We are grateful to have served the 1474 who came to our doors this month. Our supplies
are low. Canned goods are our greatest need in the food department.
AUGUST was a huge month! 1860 people stood in line to get extra food for their families. I wish you could be here and hear the gratitude of those who are thankful for any little bit of help to make it through a difficult week. Come and see!
JULY was scorching hot but we were still able to give groceries 1585 times this month. Our volunteers in the
non-air conditioned warehouse rooms need extra thanks! That's love with sweat all over it!
MAY was a record-breaking month. We averaged 600 people standing in line for food each week.
The need seems to continue to increase.
Gastonia food bank has record-breaking month
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/14/3381762/gastonia-food-bank-has-record.html#storylink=misearch
Brief details about B.r.e.a.d., Inc.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/06/3360165/briefly.html#storylink=misearch
Donations are currently accepted on this website or by mail only.
Local food bank accepting online donations
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/food-67931-donations-bank.html
More Gaston residents needing food stamps
http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/imagined-65996-stamps-last.html
2011 Details
The number of times we have distributed groceries in 2011 has incresed to 22,810. Not only have we been able to help families but we've also been able to share with other non-profit organizations when we had extra food and drinks.Area food pantry facing bare shelves
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/food-58628-pantry-shelves.html
At 84, she's still helping to make sure there's plenty to feed the needy
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/needy-61198-plenty-call.html
Gaston poverty rate rising
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/gaston-62658-poverty-rate.html
2010 has been a very busy year for B.R.E.A.D. Inc.
Our dedicated team of nine volunteers are supported by short term volunteers that together provided grocieries 18,039 times to families in the Gaston County and surrounding areas.Courthouse clerks selling cookbooks to benefit local charity
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/county-44599-courthouse-gaston.html
2009 in the News
Some area food banks are short on supplies, while others are doing fine: http://www.gastongazette.com/news/food-33796-donations-people.html
2008 in the News
Cupboard Going Barehttp://www.gastongazette.com/news/food-21667-brackett-donations.html
B.R.E.A.D. hands out hams for the holiday
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/holiday-28334-lowery-christmas.html
B.R.E.A.D. to give out Christmas dinners on Thursday
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/christmas-28296-meals-food.html
2007 in the News
Ministries struggling to provide holiday assistancehttp://www.gastongazette.com/news/christmas-13633-donations-food.html
As you can see the need to help others is rapidly growing.
