Table of Grace

I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
Matthew 25:35

Food Distribution
Hours

Volunteer
with Us

Give to
Table of Grace

In the spirit of togetherness, Table of Grace works to end food insecurity and promote community in West Alabama.

Table of Grace is a client-choice food pantry where our food is displayed much like in a market and our neighbors select from available inventory. Choices vary month to month depending on food availability.

Table of Grace at Grace Presbyterian Church

First People’s Land Acknowledgement

Our Location

Grace Presbyterian Church (USA)
113 Hargrove Road,
Tuscaloosa AL 35401

Hours

The Table of Grace pantry market will be open several days a week to meet the varying needs of our clients.

Tuesday 12pm-6pm

Thursday 12pm-2pm

Friday 12pm-2pm

Closed November 20-24 and December 25-January 1

Volunteer with us

We believe that when we work together as a community to meet the basic needs people have, something beautiful takes place.

We need a steady array of volunteers to make this mission possible. Our food pantry has long worked with community volunteers who are not a part of the church. All are welcome.

Please join us on this journey! We need volunteers like you to:

Assist neighbors as they shop the pantry & choose their items
Help keep our pantry market shelves stocked
Assist with registering new neighbors, greet neighbors, and assist them with groceries to their car

Volunteer with us!

For more information or if you are a group who wants to volunteer, contact Volunteer Coordinators, Brooke Peterson: bwbpeterson@gmail.com or Susan Donovan: sdonovan@law.ua.edu or, contact the church office: 205-758-1193; office@gracetuscaloosa.org.

Our Food

West Alabama Food Bank

Table of Grace is an agency of the West Alabama Food Bank.

Donations

Table of Grace accepts food donations from organizations and members of the community. For questions about donations contact the Food Pantry Manager, Jennifer Sheppard at bleux@yahoo.com.

Fresh Food

Table of Grace partners with individuals, farms, and other organizations to glean from the foods they produce.

In addition, beginning in the spring of 2024, the Table of Grace garden of raised beds and orchard will supplement the client choice marketplace.

Garden & Education Programs

In the spring of 2024, we plan to plant the Table of Grace Garden. The garden will consist primarily of raised beds and serve as garden education space and a source for some produce for the food pantry. It will support our existing gleaning relationships and help us build more of them with the community. We will be looking for volunteer garden workers throughout the year to tend to this growing ministry. Experienced gardeners and newbies who are willing to roll up your sleeves and get dirty are welcome.

The Table of Grace building and grounds is designed as a space for community members to congregate around food. This is a place for eating, cooking, and spreading education about food justice, sustainable garden practices, community engagement, and the like. It serves as a hub for food justice work throughout West Alabama.

Our Values

Table of Grace is guided by the mission of Grace Presbyterian Church: Celebrating Christ’s universal love, we seek to do justice, embrace kindness, and walk humbly with God.
Table of Grace’s primary objective is to ensure that those who are hungry have food. “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25: 35 CEB)
Table of Grace is guided by these beliefs:
- Feeding people should always involve dignity and human connection.
- People deserve to have agency over what they eat, when, and how.
- Together we are stronger: we collaborate with individuals and organizations seeking to amplify their impact in tackling food injustice.
- Education is a mutual and essential element of expanding food justice work.
- Community is ever-evolving, inclusive, and expansive.
- Beauty, peace, and conversation guide our aesthetic and programming.

Our History

When Grace Presbyterian church formed from the merger of University and Covenant Presbyterian Churches, the newly formed congregation began envisioning its new identity and its new priorities. Quickly, it became clear that the first major area of growth the church wanted to invest in was finding a way to expand its long-standing, vibrant food ministry. Thus, began the work to build a new building dedicated to an expanded food market with client choice: Table of Grace!

Table of Grace as it exists today began as Deacons Food Pantry, a collective effort on the part of members of then-University Presbyterian Church to give emergency bags of food to families and individuals on an as-needed basis. In 1996, the program was formalized under the leadership of a team of deacons, and they became an Agency of the USDA-accredited West Alabama Food Bank. Distribution grew from limited to twice a month, nine months out of the year.

After Cathy C. Hoop joined the church as pastor in 2013, the program saw increased interest, and a professional was hired to manage the food pantry. In 2015, the Pantry relocated from its original location in a closet at University Presbyterian to the Covenant Presbyterian campus. The added parking and dedicated space enabled it to expand to year-round distribution. To signal the new partnership, the name was changed to Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry in January 2016.

University Presbyterian formally merged with Covenant Presbyterian to form the new Grace Presbyterian Church in January 2017. Table of Grace opened in its new building at Grace Presbyterian in the fall of 2023.