‘Everything is expensive right now’: Chesterfield Food Bank responds to growing demand
VENN
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The Chesterfield Food Bank Outreach Center is taking extra steps to help Virginians in need.
Even though Governor Glenn Youngkin recently launched a program to provide temporary food assistance for Virginians who rely on SNAP, volunteers at the food bank say many families are still struggling.
"Sometimes you don’t have enough money to pay everything in the home -- rent, bills, plus kids," said Sandra Funes, who attends the food bank’s distributions as often as she can. "Everything is expensive right now."
To meet the growing need, the nonprofit held an emergency distribution, where dozens of volunteers packed cars with groceries for about a hundred people.
"We would not normally have one [distribution] today. This is in response to SNAP interruptions and these food-based benefits, along with those workers who have already been experiencing being furloughed for this amount of time," said Nicholas Jenkins, Director of Community Outreach and Communications.
He added that the demand at distribution centers has increased since the government shutdown. Normally, the food bank sees about 15,000 to 16,000 visits each month.
"Our last Monday and our last Saturday both saw over 100 clients in addition to what we normally serve," Jenkins said.
Last week, Governor Youngkin launched VENA, a program providing food assistance for Virginians who rely on SNAP, and the Trump administration announced Monday it will provide partial SNAP benefits this month. But Jenkins said the food bank was already prepared to step in before that aid arrived.
"This time of year stretches families in general. On top of what we’re facing right now with the government shutdown, we’ve already seen these numbers spike," he said.
Jenkins also said the food bank will hold two additional distributions this month, on top of the eight they normally schedule. For more information on the distributions or to support the nonprofit, click here.
