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SALUDA—Like so many residences and businesses in the region, Tropical Storm Helene impacted the Saluda Pantry. Its location in the Saluda Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall at 54 Carolina Drive was flooded, covered in mud, and without power. 

“We had a lot of frozen meats, so we had a cookout and fed whoever in town came because we knew we were going to lose that food,” says the pantry’s board chair, Teresa Wilkinson.

Wilkinson also knew the pantry had to find a temporary location quickly to continue feeding the families it serves, so Tim and Sara Bell, the owners of Green River Adventures, offered a solution.

“They were closing for the winter because it was October,” says Wilkinson. “They offered to let us stay there temporarily so we wouldn’t have any interruptions in services. We moved everything over to that temporary location and that’s where we are today.”

The space at GRA is slightly smaller, so after the church cleaned up from the storm it allowed the pantry to use its old space for storage. The pantry used to be open only on Tuesdays, but Wilkinson says it opened every day in the wake of the storm. 

It has scaled back to Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pantry typically serves 120 families a week, but Wilkinson says it surged to 1,200 in the three weeks after the storm.

“They’re just thrilled that we’re available and offering services,” says Wilkinson. “A lot of these people are still without power. Some are without water that live in the outer parts of Saluda.”

Wilkinson says the pantry, which opened in 2019, has also seen a surge in volunteers. If interested in volunteering or donating money, visit saludapantry.com.