Concord food bank expands reach through $5,000 grant

SOLO FAITH CHURCH

Concord-based Solo Faith Church received a $5,000 DoorDash grant to expand its online food pantry initiative through an artificial intelligence model to identify clients.

Solo Faith Church has a unique way of serving its community.

The Concord church in early 2025 launched a food bank. But it is not traditional in that food is delivered to clients through a partnership with DoorDash that included a $5,000 grant. 

“DoorDash has given us the ability to sign up other organizations for their DoorDash platform for the nonprofit side,” pastor Doug Lattimore said. “We uniquely fit in that space, unlike any other, because we're one of the few online food pantries in the nation. There's only a few of us, and so and then once you incorporate AI, and our food pantry is AI-powered. Then AI goes in and parses out every order that comes in, so what DoorDash did was they ended up giving us a grant to expand to other organizations.”

Lattimore said the food pantry isn’t partnered with a food bank, so resources are limited. The DoorDash grant allows them to establish collaborations with more resources. 

“DoorDash has pretty much anointed us and said, ‘Go and establish the partnerships, and we will not only give you $5,000 to help train them, but also help pay for the deliveries.’ Then, we are providing the funds so that other organizations can add delivery to their model, which is a win-win situation.” 

Solo Faith’s food bank reaches approximately 160 families in the greater Concord area per month. Lattimore anticipates the number will not only increase because of the grant, but also the holidays being right around the corner. Along with food, they are also able to send hygiene products to those that need it. 

“We typically get about 2,000 pounds of food every week,” Lattimore said. “It sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t. During the holidays, we get close to about 2,000 pounds per day. … We are looking to increase that probably about three times as much. … So, to give you a clear number, probably about 400-500 families just from our location during the holidays, not including our location partners who also have their own food resources.”

Lattimore said the church works with several local resources to gather food.

“There’s farms in the area,” he said. “We work with the YMCA. Rowan Cabarrus YMCA has opened their garden to us. We work with Rocky River Processing. During hunting season, they're FDA approved, FDA inspected, and so whenever hunters are trying to donate their kills to fight hunger, then Rocky River processing calls us, and we're able to get meat, and it's how we get meat and vegetables, and then we buy food.

“We have a budget to purchase food. We partnered up with First Presbyterian Charlotte, and they gave us a 10-cents-a-meal grant, which gives us the ability to purchase food as well.”

The pantry, which also serves Charlotte and Kannapolis, is looking to build more collaborations. 

“We need partnerships,” Lattimore said. “Whether that is corporate sponsorships or people interested in adding delivery to what they already do. … I am working my tail off to try to make sure that we get the funding we need in order to help people. It brings a sense of dignity back to these people.”

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