COVID-19 Update -
Food Pantry Sees Soaring Demand
As we head into the third month responding to the COVID-19 public health
emergency, we wanted to share an update from the perspective of one of
our member agencies working to deliver food assistance to neighbors in
need.
Being Good Neighbors
“ You don’t know how much this means to me. All I have left
to eat at home is walnuts. I don’t know what we would do without this
help.”
Sandra, on the
left with another guest, one of the few “walk ups” who traveled by bus
from Woonsocket to get to the pantry.
Good Neighbors, a Food Bank member agency in Riverside provides
drive-through service to neighbors in need of food assistance on Wednesday
and Saturday mornings. Visitors drive their cars up in an orderly line
and volunteers fill their trunks, hatchbacks or backseats with
pre-packaged bags of food.
 The bags contain both perishable and
non-perishable items: eggs, lettuce from Gotham Greens, potatoes, meat,
cereal, pasta. But there is a noticeable shortage of bread.
“The bread supply has all but dried up,” said Executive Director Ric
Wild. “We used to get truckloads donated from local retailers, but it’s
just not there anymore for them to give.”
Good Neighbors is seeing more guests than ever at their pantry. On an
average Wednesday during the course of the year, they may have had as
many as 46 visitors seeking food assistance. More recently, they’ve seen
up to 113 in one day, nearly 2.5 times what they’re used to.
According to Wild, “Many of these folks are coming here for the first
time. They’ve never needed help before. It’s new to them and they’re new
to us so we try to make it as seamless as we can.”
As one guest explained from her car as it was being loaded up for her:
“This will help me until I can get back to work. It’ll last me a couple
of weeks.”
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Serving More of Our Neighbors
 To meet the increased demand for
assistance at our member agencies, we continue to distribute food at
levels much higher than average, from 50,000 to as much as 100,000
pounds more per week than we're used to. Last week we distributed
337,045 pounds of food – normally we would be delivering
225,000-250,000 pounds.
Helping
Children and Families
Since the crisis began, we’ve distributed 10,000 Meals4Kids boxes which
contain a week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches and snacks for kids.
Contents include soup, crackers, pasta, juice, apple sauce, mac &
cheese, fruit cups, oatmeal and milk.
We continue to work with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency
to distribute individual pre-packaged Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs). To
date, we’ve given out 119,000 MRE meal kits and the demand continues.
FEMA is also providing us with thousands of family meal boxes which
include 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches, instead of just one.
Making A
Healthy Recipe with Your Kids
Our Healthy Habits nutrition education team has put together a special
Carrot Energy Bites recipe to introduce your children to the ins and
outs of the kitchen. It’s about much more than cooking. Visit our website
to watch the video together and download the recipe.
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