The Bread Basket Food Pantry in Newport is looking to raise $300,000 to buy its building. Leaders are asking for the community’s support to continue their mission.
COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — The Bread Basket Food Pantry has been serving families in Cocke County for more than 60 years. Last year, they gave out 130,000 meals to those in need.
Now, the pantry needs help. Executive Director Jamee Morrow said they were given 30 days to raise $300,000 to buy the building before it’s sold to someone else.
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She said that while a new building owner wouldn’t necessarily mean the end of the Bread Basket, the best way to secure its future is by buying the building.
“We’re down to the wire in order to get this completed. We have about $16,000 now, and we’ve got a long way to go,” Morrow said.
She said the worry of losing this building is having to move everything they’ve spent the last two years rebuilding and expanding. In September 2024, the Bread Basket’s previous location flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. They reopened in their current building the following month.
“We have a lot nicer things than what we had before because now there is a walk-in cooler, a walk-in freezer, and refrigerators,” she said. “Everything needs to be here because if we go to a different place, it might be smaller, and we might have to downsize a whole lot of our stuff. Well, if we downsize our food or our refrigeration systems, then that means less food that we can keep on hand and less food that we’ll be able to feed to our families.”
Rebecca Clabough started going to the food pantry after the flood. She would deliver food to people who otherwise couldn’t or wouldn’t make it out themselves.
“Nobody wants to admit, ‘Hey, I go to a food pantry.’ But everybody, I don’t care who you are, everybody is struggling. The price of gas, the price of groceries, it’s so hard for people to just survive anymore, and people are too proud because they think that it’s a food box. But it’s not, it’s so much more,” Clabough said.
Clabough said that after dealing with health issues, she found herself needing help.
“So, I swallowed my pride, and I came into the Lord’s pantry,” she said. “Not only were they there for me to help other people, but they didn’t hesitate one bit to say, ‘How can we help you?’ That meant more than any purple bag could.”
She said it’s more than just the meals the food pantry provides and is joining Morrow in asking for the community’s support.
“If anyone ever deserved it, it’s this place. They’re your neighbors. They’re your friends, and they’re your family. I have never in my life seen such a giving spirit as Jamee’s. And so many people rely on this help every single month,” Clabough said.
The pantry is collecting donations through a GoFundMe. They are also hosting a fundraising event at a local restaurant on Saturday, with 15 percent of sales going to the pantry. More information and ways to help out can be found on the Bread Basket’s Facebook page.
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