Facing Hunger Foodbank prepares for demand in summer months

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The unofficial start of summer comes after a whirlwind spring at the Facing Hunger Foodbank in Cabell County where demand has been up since the start of business and other closures in the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think we’re finally feeling some stability of level of food available right now,” said Cyndi Kirkhart, executive director.

“With good pre-planning, we’ve been able to make sure that we have what we need, not a crazy overabundance.”

Her organization, one of several feeding West Virginians, had deliveries planned through August with continued support from local businesses and donors along with “key” volunteers and a team of eight from the West Virginia National Guard.

“Some of the things that we’ve adopted because of the pandemic, we’re going to continue,” Kirkhart told MetroNews.

Examples of changes included, “Pre-boxing things, making sure that everything’s ready to go and that there’s not too much handling,” she said.

Cyndi Kirkhart

“We continue, like everyone else, to monitor what happens with this pandemic and how we move forward into businesses opening and people getting back out to their daily lives.”

This summer, Kirkhart said their feeding programs for school students and others would utilize drive-thrus and mobile pantries much more than group feeding.

As for overall demand, “We have seen it leveling off just a bit but, in some areas, we continue to see that uptick of about 30 to 35 percent and those are the communities that have had the higher unemployment rates,” Kirkhart said.

That included Huntington and more populated areas in the Facing Hunger Foodbank service area.

The Facing Hunger Foodbank is an affiliate of Feeding America and supplies 248 agencies in 17 counties in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio.

Kirkhart said the organization’s distribution efforts would get a boost from a July 1 planned opening of a distribution center in Rock Branch.

That Kanawha County site was to be run in coordination with the West Virginia National Guard, the Mountaineer Food Bank and West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active In Disaster.





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