CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Mountaineer Food Bank took a big hit after the June 2012 derecho and Hurricane Sandy. Chad Morrison, with the charity, says it’s taken nearly a year to get back to where they were.
“We’re distributing quite a bit more food than we have in the past. We’re getting to the point where we can handle it and keep the food flowing,” Morrison said Friday in Charleston. “There’s a constant demand for it.”
To help out the food bank, Dixon Hughes Goodman, a CPA firm in Charleston, once again held the “Count the Cans: Community Collection Day.” Brooke Lord, with the company, said the food they collect is desperately needed.
“There is no summer vacation from hunger.”
In fact, last year the volunteers with Dixon Hughes Goodman found out very quickly how fast that food flew off the Mountaineer shelves.
“Within a week, all of the items, the 3,500 items and over $750 collected during our food drive, immediately went to help those in West Virginia affected by the [derecho],” said Lord.
An estimated 252,000 West Virginians will visit a food pantry, soup kitchen or shelter in 2013. The Mountaineer Food Bank stocks more than 600 feeding programs in 48 counties.
Lord said they’re hoping to collect a lot of items.
“Most needed items are canned meats, peanut butter, any non-perishable food item, we will gladly take.”
The volunteers set up their collection site Friday at the corners of Summers and Virginia streets so people could pull up, drop off their donations and drive away.