GASSAWAY, W.Va. — Since the pandemic began, the need for food among those struggling has continued to increase. Mountaineer Food Bank Executive Director Chad Morrison said the faculty has worked hard to meet the ever increasing demand for food.
“We’ve seen about a 30 percent increase in demand for food assistance and support across our footprint,” said Morrison speaking Friday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Originally the organization was going with food boxes which were being delivered each week. The National Guard was helping to pack and distribute those boxes. According to Morrison, they’ve evolved into a more long term effort to try and meet the need more efficiently.
“We’ve continued to bring in additional sources of food to make sure our mobile food pantries are extremely active. We’ve increased our mobile food pantries from three or four a week to eight to ten to make sure we touch as many communities as we can,” he said.
.@JChadMorrison, Executive Director of @MountaineerFood, speaks with @HoppyKercheval about the large gift from the Antero Foundation and a matching donation. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/NAcGKWU9dC
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 30, 2020
Morrison also announced Friday his organization was getting a huge boost from natural gas producer Antero Resources as part of the “We’re Here” campaign.
“Antero will be matching up to $150,000 in donations as part of the partnership with the ‘We’re here’ campaign,” he said.
The campaign centers around reminding West Virginians of the work done by the Mountaineer Food Bank and the growing need, especially during the pandemic, among fellow West Virginians.