David and Nicole Tepper Foundation pledges $3 million to help Charlotte food pantry expand
The David and Nicole Tepper Foundation is giving $3 million to Nourish Up, a nonprofit that fights food insecurity across Mecklenburg County.
The donation is the largest in Nourish Up’s history and will go toward its newest facility, known as the Hunger Hub. The 90,000-square-foot space holds a packing center for volunteers, a food pantry and five coolers and freezers for storing perishable items.
Nicole Tepper described the building and project as the “future for food banks.”
“It’s so innovative,” Tepper said in an interview Tuesday at the site, located at 901 Carrier Drive. “I really hope that other places come and people come and see what (Nourish Up) has done here, and how this building is going to operate and what it’s going to do for the community.”
Nourish Up, formerly Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays, moved into the Hunger Hub in April with the hope of expanding its nutritional programs and increasing advocacy across the county. The organization began fundraising in 2022 to meet its $22.8 million goal for the project.
With the donation from the foundation, Nourish Up is $3 million away from reaching it.
David and Nicole Tepper own the Carolina Panthers; he is chairman and she is chief administrative officer.
Nourish Up CEO Tina Postel said she was surprised and overjoyed when seeing the amount from the foundation. For her, the opening of the Hunger Hub has been a “lump in the throat moment.”
Postel said the space will also allow Nourish Up’s partners to come to the facility and store food.
“Every day that I come to work, I know that there’s going to be hundreds of families that get to sit around a dining room table tonight and break bread with one another because we continue to do the work that we do,” Postel said.
The Hunger Hub will host cooking classes in its kitchens and will be the site for Nourish Up’s Meals on Wheels kitchen, which brings meals to those who are unable to prepare them due to an illness or a mobility limitation.
Meals on Wheels feeds hundreds of people every week, but the Hunger Hub has allowed the organization to expand its working space and reach. Postel said they are expecting to feed 2,500 families a week when the program becomes fully operational on site.
Some of the people Nourish Up feeds are employed families that don’t make enough money to afford more than their rent, Postel said. And 68% of the people served have one or more chronic diseases.
“This hub can dramatically move the needle in our overall community’s health,” Postel said. “We want to make sure that everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, has access to fresh, healthy food because food is medicine.”
About 4,000 volunteers contribute to Nourish Up’s programs every year, Postel said. She hopes the new building brings forward a whole new wave of people interested in serving their community.
For Nicole Tepper, the opportunity is one of growth. She’s confident the new facility will help build relationships, while fulfilling Nourish Up’s mission.
“You always hope to see that we don’t need to feed so many people — that’s the goal — to see people not be hungry. But that’s not realistic,” Tepper said. “If the insecurities don’t go away, we’re able to provide.”
For more information on volunteer opportunities or food programs, visit Nourish’s Up’s website.
This story was originally published June 11, 2024 at 2:00 PM.
