For 15 years, the H2O Food Pantry was the Centerton food pantry families could count on. Every Saturday, people in Centerton, Arkansas, could drive through and pick up groceries. Last year alone, it served more than 10,000 people. Now it’s gone.
As 5NEWS reported, H2O (short for Help to Others) is closing because the church that housed it, Living Waters United Methodist Church, is closing. The pantry operated rent-free in the church building. Moving into a new space and paying rent wasn’t financially possible.
What losing a Centerton food pantry really means
Over its lifetime, H2O’s volunteers distributed about 1.8 million pounds of food. Every one of those pounds was unloaded, sorted and handed out by a volunteer. Amy Prime, who directed the pantry for 13 of those years, told 5NEWS she might still show up in the parking lot on Saturday out of habit.
Losing a Centerton food pantry doesn’t make anyone less hungry. The families who drove through every Saturday still need to eat. The need just moves somewhere else, usually to smaller pantries that are already stretched.
Just a few miles away, Wendy Henson runs Centerton Cares, a nonprofit that connects people with resources and keeps small community pantries stocked around town. She told 5NEWS that food can disappear from the pantry outside her home almost as fast as she fills it. That kind of small, neighbor-run pantry is often the first place people turn, and the first to run out.
Why this keeps happening
Most local pantries run on volunteers, donations and borrowed space. That makes them remarkably efficient, and remarkably fragile. Lose the building, the key volunteer or the main supplier, and a pantry serving thousands of people can close in a matter of weeks.
Families who relied on H2O will now turn to the next closest options, like Centerton Cares’ small community pantries, First Baptist Church of Centerton and Flames to Fire. Those programs will absorb more of the need, often with fewer volunteers and less storage than a 15-year operation had built up. If you’ve ever thought about volunteering for or donating to a Centerton food pantry, this is the moment.
None of this is a knock on the people who ran H2O. Fifteen years of Saturdays is an extraordinary gift to a community. It’s a reminder that the people doing this work deserve stable support, not just thanks.
That’s exactly why the pantries still standing need steady support, not just holiday food drives. And it’s why we keep saying the same thing: in a country this wealthy, 10,000 people in one small city shouldn’t need a pantry at all. Until that changes, the pantries are the safety net.
Feeding people isn’t a religious thing
Meals N Feelz started with fidya, the Islamic practice of feeding someone in need when you can’t fast. That’s our root, and we’re proud of it. H2O was a church ministry. Centerton Cares is a community nonprofit. Hunger doesn’t check anyone’s faith, and neither should the help. A hungry neighbor is a hungry neighbor.
How you can help
- In Benton County? Support Centerton Cares and the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. If you need food, dial 211 or visit Arkansas 211 for help near you.
- Anywhere else? Use Feeding America’s food bank locator to find your regional food bank, and ask which partner pantries are struggling.
- Join the movement. Add your name to Fuel the Launch.
Meals N Feelz is building a community of people who want to keep local food programs like these open.
We’re not asking for money. When it’s time to launch, we’ll only ask for $3. Every name tells a local pantry it isn’t alone.