Remarkable Women: Meet Pamela Irvine, the woman behind Feeding Southwest Virginia
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – Southwest and Central Virginia are filled with remarkable women, and we're introducing you to some during March during Nexstar's Remarkable Women contest.
Pamela Irvine is one of the four finalists in the contest. Irvine is best known for being the woman behind Feeding Southwest Virginia.
Irvine started Feeding Southwest Virginia over 40 years ago after facing food insecurity herself.
'Initially, we had three people, no trucks, no computers, a little bit of food moving in and out,' said Irvine.
Moving from those humble beginnings to now working with over 400 feeding programs across Southwest Virginia, many would say Irvine is the heart and soul of the operation.
'Pam's legacy is just undeniably strong. Not just to create and start a food bank in southwest Virginia, but to create the network that she has of food pantries and feeding programs,' said Pete Deaver, Irvine's co-worker who nominated her for the Remarkable Women contest.
More 'Remarkable Women' stories on WFXRtv.com
Not only is Irvine working to feed anyone who finds themself hungry, but she is also going head to head with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make food more accessible.
'A ruling that was on the book that said we had to watch a child consume the meal before we could receive partial reimbursement from the federal government,' said Irvine.
To travel every day to a facility to sit down and have a meal at a facility isn't realistic for families facing hunger, especially those in rural regions.
'We fought really hard to have that changed. So now there are USDA-approved rural communities where we no longer have to watch children consume the meals. So the impact, we went from serving a couple thousand meals across Southwest Virginia to last summer serving over 200,000 meals to children,' said Irvine.
Although Irvine's ultimate goal remains out of reach, her work perseveres.
'I thought early on that we would be able to end hunger. We knew there was a lot of food wasted, and we knew if we set up a great system we would be able to, and unfortunately, the most recent study from the USDA. The work is still needed; we have more people to reach, and there is a lot of work to be done,' said Irvine.
Decades of passion and results prove that if anyone can do the work, it's Pamela Irvine.
'She has just committed so much of her life to making sure that people can eat, which is such a simple thing on paper, but in execution it's so complicated, and she makes it look kind of easy,' said Deaver.
Irvine is just one of four women that we're highlighting during March. At the end of the month, you will find out which one will be the local winner of Nexstar's Remarkable Women contest.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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