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GREENSBORO- With the snip of a ribbon, The Guilford County Food Pantry opened for business on Friday.

It is a project that began in 2007 by the people of Final Call Outreach Ministry. The food pantry will serve several areas of Guilford County. The pantry will purchase food at a discount price from Second Harvest Food Bank and Greensboro Urban Ministry.

Pastor Eric Sturdivant , with Final Call Outreach Ministry, says that the pantry is opening at just the right time.

"By the grace of God we've finally gotten to this point today to where we are really ready to move forward and to try to help those that are in need because we got so many people that are out of work and that really need help," said Sturdivant.

All of the food and the building materials were donated, which is uplifting to former city council member Goldie Wells.

"To hear of the other citizens who donated the building, the refrigerator and all of the help... it just shows that we do care. There are people who do care for each other," said Wells.

Pastor Sturduvant says that the food pantry will operate a little differently than most pantries do by helping anyone who is in need.

"[Other pantries] require that they have Social Security Cards, things of that nature or get a referral from DSS or things like that. But we realize that we have a lot of people that are here illegally, now we're not condoning them being here illegally but at the same token, they have children just like we do. And they get hungry just like our children do," said Sturdivant.

Representatives from Urban Ministry say that the additional pantry will offset some of the demand they see.

"We today alone down at Urban Ministry we had about 25 to 35 requests from individuals for assistance. Anywhere from one person to a family of seven and a family of eight came to get assistance," said Betty Brown, with Greensboro Urban Ministry.

With years of hard work already invested into the project, Pastor Sturdivant is ready to help those in need.

"Well, ready to go to work. This is just the start. It's not the end, it's just the beginning," Sturdivant said.