Edna W Jackson was a member of Greater Allen Chapel AME Church, where she taught Adult Bible Study, and Adult Sunday School. In the early nineties she encouraged the members of the bible study class to establish an outreach program for the community to feed the hungry and homeless. After many years her health had a major impact on her ability to carry on this mission, so the outreach had a hiatus for several years and was restarted in 2010 under the Greater Allen Chapel Pastor Rev. Joyce Moore, the WMS President LaShaundra Tucker-Abel and Mrs. Jeannie Hunter as the Pantry Coordinator. The outreach program was also dedicated as the Edna W. Jackson Food Pantry in 2010.
The Edna W Jackson Food pantry has expanded over the years to a food pantry providing monthly food distributions, a weekly hot lunch, a weekend Food Backpack to students at a designated school, a clothing pantry open to all who need, a monthly homeless camp feeding program, a community summer Read and Feed location and a local Farm Share Food Pantry.
In 2021 Greater Allen Development Corporation a 501(c)(3) corporation (EIN 81-4293565) became the fiscal sponsor of the Edna W Jackson Food Pantry.