March 16, 2020, started with a food distribution in Pine Lawn, Mo. where we distributed more than 25,000 meals for local families. Standing in the parking lot of the Skate King that day, you could feel the tension in the air. The coronavirus was coming to our region. There was already one confirmed case in St. Louis County. It was a scary time because there were so many unknowns, kids were home from school much earlier than anticipated, and many grocery store shelves were bare.
Items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer were almost impossible to find, but one thing that never seemed to be in short supply around the Foodbank was hope. Hope took the form of thousands of pounds of fresh produce, dairy products, and protein arriving at our warehouse daily to nourish the newly unemployed. Hope showed up as parents who brought their suddenly out-of-school kids to our warehouse to box up the influx of food coming in. Hope looked like volunteers handing out food and supplies in their community because they knew it was the right thing to do to help their neighbors that unexpectedly found themselves in need of assistance.
When people said, “we need food,” our staff, local businesses, community leaders, and individual supporters said, “we’re here to help.” That attitude resulted in an increase of more than 30 percent in the amount of food that we distributed compared to the same time period last year.
In April, we announced a goal to distribute more than 10 million meals by the end of June. Thanks to you and other generous friends, more than 15 million meals were provided to area families affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Thank you!
Our work is not done. We anticipate that the road to recovery will be long, with a few twists and turns
along the way. However long recovery takes, with your continued support, we will build stronger
communities by empowering people with food and hope – now and well into the future.
Learn more about the Foodbank’s Covid-19 relief and recovery efforts at: STLFoodbank.org/Covid19
