Trailer essential to one of Gastonia's most visible food pantries destroyed by fire

Since COVID-19 hit, Mount Zion Restoration Church and its Bountiful Blessings Food Pantry have stepped up to help thousands of families in Gaston County put food on the table.

Monday morning both organizations suffered their own tragedy when fire destroyed the refrigerated trailer the pantry uses to store food.

A powerline fell across the food trailer, setting it on fire, said Mount Zion Pastor Rodney Freeman on Tuesday.

Gastonia firefighters responded to a fire call Monday morning at the church to find the trailer engulfed in flames, along with a downed power line that had been burned in half, according to reports.

Officials reported the fire began when a tree branch above the trailer broke, came in contact with a power line and ignited in flames.

Luckily, Freeman said the church had not received a food shipment for this week's pantry donation though he called the loss of the trailer a major setback.

Mount Zion's weekly pantry distribution became one of the earliest indicators of the impact COVID-19 had on the local economy. In late March and early April, thousands of people began to line up before 7 a.m. at the church's Crescent Lane property each Thursday morning to take advantage of its weekly food drives.

The trailer has helped feed more than 135,000 people since the pandemic hit last spring, and has averaged helping more than 3,700 people weekly.

Freeman believes the pantry has developed a plan with Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina that will help offset the loss of the trailer, at least for now.

"They're going to drop their trailer that they bring our food in and leave it with us," Freeman said. "Then they'll come back and pick it up. Hopefully that will get us through the next 30 days or so, until we've figured out a solution to purchase a new trailer."

A replacement refrigerated trailer might cost as much as $8,000, Freeman said. He's hopeful insurance will pay a portion of the cost to replace the unit.

"We praise God that this trailer was utilized to feed 135,000 people," church leaders posted online Monday. "We shall recover everything that we lost."

Reach Adam Orr at 704-869-1828 or [email protected]

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Trailer essential to one of Gastonia's most visible food pantries destroyed by fire

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