Need for help surges at Kentucky food pantries as coronavirus saps jobs
The need for food aid is surging in Kentucky as workplaces shut down to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, leaving pantries needing more donations to keep up, officials said.
Demand has already gone up by 50 percent at some local food pantries.
Others haven’t yet seen the same kind of spike, but are fielding dozens of calls a day from people about getting signed up for help, indicating demand will go up.
“We are absolutely across the board seeing an increase in need for food assistance,” said Tamara Sandberg, executive director of Feeding Kentucky, a statewide association of food banks that supply more than 800 local food pantries.
At Thankful Heart Food Pantry in Pikeville, coordinator Trissia Scott said the program provided 600 hot meals last week, up from about 480 it typically provided earlier, and the number of people requesting help feeding their families has increased.
Scott said she’s hearing from new people who hadn’t used the program before, who have told her they’ve lost jobs because of coronavirus.
“These are new people, different people that’s coming,” Scott said. “It’s people being laid off everywhere. If it continues like this, I don’t know how much longer we can keep going.”
The economy in Eastern Kentucky already was suffering because of a sharp downturn in the coal industry in Appalachia before the coronavirus pandemic further sapped jobs.
Brenda Russell, executive director of God’s Food Pantry in Somerset, said she’s getting 50 calls a day from people about getting food, far more than usual.
“I think it’s gonna double what we’re used to seeing,” Russell said.
Coronavirus restrictions causing food insecurity
Gov. Andy Beshear has ratcheted up efforts to stem the spread of coronavirus cases in recent weeks with orders to close or curtail many businesses. The goal is to keep down the risk of exposure to the virus that causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, which has the potential to overwhelm the state’s hospitals if the number of cases goes up quickly.
Several food-pantry officials said that while they believe Beshear’s efforts are warranted, the job losses have caused greater food insecurity.
Many service-industry workers were living from one paycheck to the next, or even one shift to the next, officials said.
“The magnitude of the economic impact is dramatic,” said Michael Halligan, chief executive officer of God’s Pantry Food Bank, which is based in Lexington and supplies food to local pantries in 50 counties in Central, Southern and Eastern Kentucky.
Beshear — who has urged people to apply for Medicaid, SNAP and unemployment payments during the downturn — added non-essential retail businesses such as car lots, furniture stores and clothing stores to the list of businesses that had to close this week.
“It’s gonna be another wave of people who’re not going to have their paychecks this week,” Sandberg said.
Some senior citizens have lost access to meals at senior centers, and while shuttered schools are working to keep kids fed, the shutdown also has increased demand on food pantries, officials said.
The need for help with food is likely to increase even more in the coming weeks as more counties see confirmed coronavirus cases and as rent and mortgage payments come due, officials said.
Older volunteers staying home
Staffing is another issue. Many volunteers at food pantries are age 60 or older, meaning they are at higher risk of potentially fatal complications from COVID-19, so pantries have lost helpers as older volunteers stay home to avoid potential exposure.
Some younger volunteers have stepped in to help, but food pantries could use more help from people who are healthy and not at higher risk, officials said.
Food pantries have upped cleaning and sanitizing procedures, changed how food boxes are packed to reduce the number of times products are touched and are working to keep a proper distance between people, Halligan said.
God’s Pantry Food Bank changed the traffic flow in its warehouse to create one-way aisles, so people don’t pass each other but instead follow each other so they can keep at least six feet apart, Halligan said.
So far, local food pantries have been able to keep up with the increased demand and haven’t had to cut the amount of food people are getting, Halligan said.
The Lord’s Café, a ministry of Crossroads Community Baptist Church in McCreary County, has even added an extra day of providing hot meals, said the pastor, Grant Hasty.
The church had been providing hot meals every Tuesday and Thursday and a grocery giveaway on Wednesdays, but added Mondays to the meal service last week to meet the increased need.
The church had averaged serving 160 to 200 meals a week. Last week, people picked up 565 meals.
Monday of this week, the church provided 201 meals, Hasty said — as many as it used to in a week.
Volunteers at the church have noticed people getting food for elderly neighbors who can’t get out, and have seen children younger than school age needing food.
Hasty said the church put a notice on Facebook about needing extra to-go containers, and someone sent 1,400 by UPS. He doesn’t know who sent them.
“We’re seeing God show up,” Hasty said.
Food pantries need cash donations
Halligan said there has been an increase in cash donations from individuals and companies and donations of food from large wholesalers.
But officials said there will be a need for more cash donations as the need increases in coming weeks if pantries are to continue providing the same amount of food.
Cash donations would be the best way for people to help pantries right now, not through food drives, Halligan said.
Food banks can get much more food for the same amount of money than an individual could buy at a grocery store to donate, he said.
People can donate through the sites of Feeding Kentucky, God’s Pantry Food Bank or to their local food pantries.
Feeding America and God’s Pantry Food Bank also provide information on where to get help in each community.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 12:52 PM.
