This food pantry feeds the needy for Thanksgiving and beyond. How it impacts New Orleans.

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After 35 years in the military, with tours in both Vietnam and Iraq, Robert Bookman is still serving others, and he’s thankful for the chance to do so. Today, that means volunteering four days a week packing nonperishable food items for those in need at the Giving Hope NOLA food pantry.

“My first time coming here was two years ago with my church group, New Zion Baptist Church,” said Bookman, 74, who served as an Army combat engineer in Vietnam and then as a combat medic in the National Guard. “There is just something about being here and giving of my time that seems right. It’s my way to serve the poor and serve the Lord, who has been so good to me.”

Bookman is one of many area residents who volunteer at the food pantry, located at 13040 Interstate 10 Service Road in New Orleans.

Although it will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, it will be providing hot meals throughout that week as well as food boxes for the holiday.

Betty Thomas has been chief operating officer and director at the pantry since it opened 10 years ago. “The number of people we serve continues to grow due to inflation,” she added. “Severe changes have caused disruptions in people’s lives, such as several disasters and the pandemic, so people constantly must start over. And we continue to see people we never served before due to economic disadvantages.” 

Opened in 2013 after Toyota of New Orleans transformed the building into a soup kitchen, the facility now provides both grocery boxes of nonperishable food and one hot meal five days a week to senior citizens and families in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. 

A second location in Marrero opened in 2021.