Food banks

Food Banks

>> hello, and thank you for joining us.

Coming up today on fox 24 news now, diminishing supplies at our grocery stores are having an impact on our food banks and why this needs attention.

>> being an ambassador to our hometown neighbors.

How they're dealing with the challenges of a pandemic.

>>> also ahead, low country dog magazine celebrates 59.

We're joined by a deputy and his partner featured on the popular series, live pd.

And our pet of the week is brought to us from the animal sanctuary.

We want you to meet sweet doris, all ahead on fox 424.

Fox 24 news now.

Stores experiencing diminishing supplies of food as we complete another week of the nation's stay at home order and filling pantries, they're how they're keeping up with demand.

Is not officer for the low country food bank, joining us via skype.

And thank you so much for being with us.

>> thank you so much for having me.

>> what has been the challenge of the covid 19 pandemic on your food bank?

>> the biggest challenge for us has been the ability to identify where there are food gaps and getting food to those places.

We have been partnering with schools at the grab and go sites, getting backpacks to kids for the weekend.

And even doing some disaster relief boxes, and getting those to the schools.

So we have been partnering with schools, which has been fantastic, but we know some of our agencies have had to reduce or shut down, reduce their hours because they're experiencing a dropoff of volunteers, a lot of the at our agencies are elderly.

And so you know, they are taking advice and staying home.

And so its been a real trickle down effect, but a challenge.

>> so we're talking about diminishing supplies on store shelves, and are we seeing the same thing in food banks?

>> yes and no, we are definitely seeing an increased demand.

And the people that we procure food from say that it may take longer to get the food to us, so yes, we're seeing a tightening of the food supply chain that way, but one good thing that we're seeing though, it's getting into prime growing season in florida, so we're seeing that there's more produce becoming available.

The issue is how they can pack it and get it to us safely.

So they're looking at different packing methods and getting it to us, and we're seeing an increase in the cost of produce, and the cost of freight is going up for us, so yes, we're seeing a lot of things that we have never seen before.

>> you've been at the agency for a couple of years and been through two hurricanes, and how is this situation different from those?

>> the biggest difference is in a hurricane, you know, the areas that need the relief or response are very localized.

And right now, every food bank in the country is experiencing the same thing.

So it's something that has never happened before for the feeding america network.

We're in constant communication with other food banks, feeding the carolinas, so it has been a huge challenge that all of the food banks are experiencing this at the same time.

We have great partnerships, so we're sharing food where we can, and sharing supplies where we can, and we're even using trucks from local companies to help get or pickup food and bring it back to us, so we're doing everything that we can to network.

>> we hear that you need the supplies such as diapers, and what else do you need people to do to restock your shelves?

>> honestly, the safest and most convenient thing to do to this point is donate through our online donation page.

And we have a very specific donation page set up for our covid-19 help response, so all of the funds that come through that page will go directly to our disaster relief efforts.

It's www.low country food bank.org, and a box pops up.

And we list there for there are other resources in the community to go.

So we keep that there as well.

>> one last quick question, and we have a couple of seconds left.

And has this now caught you anything to kind of rethink your plan for the future?

Will you be doing things differently in light of all of this?

>> that's one of the things that we'll certainly look at when it's all said and done.

We have a disaster response team that is always in place.

But really, we have always focused on weather events, so this is definitely going to be something where we address non-weather events in the future and put into place some standard operating procedures that we'll have on hand for the future.

>> thank you for sharing with us, and we'll put that information out there so or viewers will do what they can to help with your cause, and we wish you the best of luck and good health.

>> thank you, and stay safe.