PSA: Let's Get Involved With Local Food Organizations

Is the likely more limited food supply at your home inspiring more culinary creativity during the COVID-19 pandemic? Many people are struggling with how to stretch what is in their own pantries as they may face diminshing options for nutritional support. 

In fact, one in seven Americans — 46 million people — rely on local food banks and meal service programs to feed themselves and their families, according to a recent study. The COVID-19 pandemic has created particular urgency to meet nutritional needs since local communities may have more difficulty in helping to feed their neighbors. 
 
Please consider donating to your local food bank to help support people near you. For example, I have been working with my family to provide our local food pantry with weekly donations of bags of groceries the food bank requested to help fulfill local needs. We also have been providing brown bag meals for a local community center serving highly vulnerable residents. Your community may offer something similar, or you can start your own effort by collecting donations in a box outside of your house/apartment, bringing shelf stable goods to your local food pantry, or maybe checking out local food bank websites for other ideas to help. There are also a lot of national groups that may need aid as we look for ways to help others in this time of such urgent need.

Let us help each other get through these stressful, uncertain times as best we can!

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