WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Jeanette Lopez, aka Mama J, has served the Sneads Ferry community for the last seven years, but now she says it's time for her soup kitchen to expand and move to Wilmington.
"Wilmington is such a big area and there's such a great need,” said Lopez. “There's the homeless, there's the addicted, there's just people with sad lives that just need to feel loved."
Mama J met with Pastor Michael Satorre from Visions of Hope Ministries and they came up with the idea to not only provide food and clothing at the new location but also a message of faith.
"I started seeing how incredible it was the people coming in and needing spiritual counseling but also needing things like we provide in Sneads Ferry,” said Lopez. “We're here to encompass everything, all of their needs."
"We come in and build relationships with them and then help them with their spiritual walk, their social walk, their social skills and then we give them a place where they can come worship,” said Pastor Michael Satorre of Visions of Hope Ministries.
The new place is about six times larger than her current space and has a commercial sized kitchen.
Even though she'll be based in Wilmington now, Mama J will still serve the Sneads Ferry community using her mobile food pantry.
“They can go ahead and give us a call and let us know what their needs are and we can head to Sneads Ferry and we can still be able to provide them with those things," said Lopez.
And while Mama J says she'll miss the space where it all began, she’s happy to be able to impact more lives.
"It's a much bigger area but we're hoping to be able to go out into the communities that are connected to Wilmington and be able to have not only more services but service a wide range of people."
Mama J’s Helping Hand in Sneads Ferry will officially close its doors on February 1.
The new location is located at 1611 Castle Hayne Road in Wilmington.