We wanted to give you an update on our COVID-19 Response over the past eleven months. Please know, that without your continued support through donations, volunteering, and sharing our mission, we would not be able to do the work that we do each and every day - so thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
From March 19, 2020 - February 28, 2021 we accomplished the following thanks to each of you:
- Distributed over 21.5 million more pounds of food than last year during the same timeframe
- Served over 40,000 families at our school-based mobile pantries
- Provided over 500,000 nutritionally balanced food boxes throughout our 24 county region (14 counties in NC and 10 counties in SC)
- Distributed almost 17.5 million more pounds of fresh produce, meat, and dairy products than last year during this same timeframe.
Please remember that COVID-19 is still here. Unemployment rates are extremely high, children are still missing school meals and many seniors are still quarantined.
We need everyone to continue supporting us over the next several months. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
The greatest need currently is for funds to purchase healthy shelf stable items for food boxes. These boxes will help feed families whose children are missing school meals, seniors being asked to stay safely in their homes, those in need of food who are quarantined, and employees in our community being impacted by decreases in work hours.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we have provided 180,000 nutritionally balanced food boxes; we will continue this work for our community as long as they need us. Here are ways that you can help:
DONATE
HOST A FUND DRIVE
VOLUNTEER
Our volunteers are instrumental to food distribution in our 24-county service region. Our 800+ agency partners rely on us to be sure that the children, seniors, families, veterans, and pets that they serve have access to healthy foods. As a safety precaution, we are asking volunteers and staff to stay home if they experience any symptoms of illness, or if they have traveled to high-risk locations within the last 90 days. At this time, volunteer sessions are planned to run as scheduled, however, due to many company policies during the virus outbreak, quite a few regular groups have had to cancel their shifts. We are in desperate need of volunteers to help fill those shifts. The Food Bank is taking every safety precaution for our volunteers and staff including increased cleaning/sanitizing of our facility after each volunteer shift, consistent handwashing, along with social distancing. We are also eliminating handshakes and hugs … sorry. Elbow bumps are welcome! To keep our volunteer group numbers limited, we are hosting small volunteer groups (10 or less).
If you are interested in volunteering, and are healthy and without any cold/flu symptoms, please click here to volunteer.
We encourage everyone to stay safe during this time. Thank you for your continued support.