What We Do:
The Ampersand Pantry Project was created to help our community during these very difficult times. Our drive-through location started serving meals on April 16, 2020. The first day, we gave out 25 meals in 180 minutes. More recently, we have given out 340 meals in only 75 minutes. To date, we have given out over 48,000 meals. Each meal contains 1 entree that is provided to us by local restaurants, 1 beverage, 1 piece of fruit, 1 bag of chips or a granola bar, and sometimes a dessert. We have not only made it a goal to support the people in our community, we have made it a goal to support our local restaurant owners. Each day different restaurants are providing the food, some donating and some working at cost, all to serve up to 350 meals a day. We also take about 130 of these meals to our pantries on Edwards Ferry Road and Harrison Street. By 11:30am, we have a line of families, who do not have access to cars, waiting for us to get there with the meals, non-perishable foods, and diapers.
In addition, we give out diapers and baby wipes. In a single day, we give out more than 800 diapers (sizes 1-6) and many baby wipes to families in need. To date, we have given out over 200,000 diapers. We rely on diaper and baby wipe donations, as well as monetary donations, to continue to provide this important service.
Every Saturday, we provide pet food to our recipients as well. In these difficult times, many people have had to surrender their pets to shelters because they cannot afford to take care of them. We have partnered with Gray Face Acres Senior Dog Shelter and Retreat to ensure that families can keep their pets fed. We always encourage and welcome pet food donations to keep this program running.
Aside from providing people with basic needs, we realize that it is just as important to lift their spirits. Everyday, we give out a Carnation to every driver, walker and biker that comes to our drive-through. We attach different quotes in English and Spanish to each Carnation to make our recipients smile, as well as to remind them that we will get through these hard times together. One of the quotes this week was "We rise by lifting others" or "Nos levantamos al levantar a otros." By the end of every week, our recipients have gathered enough flowers to have a nice bouquet to come home to.
On average, 1 day of operation costs $1,500.00. Please consider donating to The Ampersand Pantry Project so that we can keep this project alive to support the families, individuals, restaurant owners and pets that need our help now more than ever before.
Monetary Donation Instructions:
Supporters may make donations payable to The Ampersand Pantry Project, a 501c3 charitable organization. The organization will acknowledge, in writing, all donations for the donor's tax purposes, if the donor's address is provided. Checks should be mailed to The Ampersand Pantry Project, 105 Loudoun St., SE, Leesburg, Virginia 20175. Checks can also be dropped off at our drive-through site, 338 East Market St. Leesburg, VA 20176, Monday - Sunday from 10:00am - 12:00pm. In addition, The Ampersand Pantry has a GoFundMe page, which can be accessed through copying and pasting the link below into your search bar.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-ampersand-pantry-project?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet
Thank you very much for your support.
