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Chosen 300 Ministries has distributed 112,000 Farmers to Families Food Boxes from the USDA to 12 communities in the Delaware Valley, according to Executive Director Brian Jenkins.
Staff ‘hungry to do more’ after months of food giveaways
A volunteer prepares to place a grocery box into a client s car during a May 22 food giveaway organized by archdiocesan Nutritional Development Services (NDS) at Holy Innocents Parish in Philadelphia. Since October 2020, NDS has funneled close to 250,000 pounds of food to area households facing COVID-related hunger. (Gina Christian)
By Gina Christian • Posted May 25, 2021
After distributing a quarter million pounds of food to area households, staff at an archdiocesan agency say they’re hungry to do even more.
On Saturday, Nutritional Development Services (NDS) held its 13th large-scale giveaway since October 2020 to counter COVID-related food insecurity. The May 22 event, hosted by Holy Innocents Parish in Philadelphia, capped a months-long effort that provided close to 7,500 “Farmers to Families Food Boxes,” federally funded packages of fresh meat, dairy products and produce.
ASHEVILLE - As the COVID-19 pandemic bore down, MANNA FoodBank CEO Hannah Randall saw firsthand a sharp rise in food insecurity, and it hasn t relented.
The nonprofit and its partner agencies last March served 128,690 people in Western North Carolina, a 93% jump from February to the onset of the pandemic. For us, throughout this pandemic, we just pulled out all the stops all the time, looking for every resource we could find to make sure people had a meal at home, she said.
Now, more than a year later, the numbers have shown no signs of declining. Complicating the work to get needed food assistance to hundreds of thousands of regional clients is a supply chain that seems reluctant to stabilize.
Food security has been a major focus of the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided more than $12 billion in new nutrition assistance overall. That included a 15% increase in SNAP benefits, or $1.1 billion per month in additional benefits for about 41 million participants through September.
An additional nearly $900 million was funneled into the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, including a temporary increase in fruit and vegetable vouchers to $35 per month.
Where can I use the Double SNAP program?
ASAP Farmers Market, 340 Victoria Road, Saturday, 9 a.m.-noon.
East Asheville Tailgate Market, 954 Tunnel Road, Friday, 3-6 p.m.
Enka-Candler Tailgate Market, 1465 Sand Hill Road, Thursday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. (Opens May 6.)