Food pantries struggle to meet demands during pandemic and storms
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COBB COUNTY, Ga. (WGCL) — Inside a Marietta donation warehouse a small team of staff at MUST Ministries is working to meet an enormous need.
“Normally we serve about 33,000 men, women, children in an entire year through of our programs. Since mid-March we have fed over 120,000 people,” said Greg Elder, Senior Director of client services of MUST Ministries.
The pandemic has increased the demand for food eight times more than a normal year.
On top of donations, the staff has had to go to grocery stores to purchase food to give away—an expensive and difficult challenge as stores face shortages and limited quantities.
“We continue to struggle with the demand versus the supply,” Elder said.
The Atlanta Community Food Bank says more than half a million children across the state don’t know where their next meal will come from and they’re feeding hundreds of thousands of students right now.
Elder says the group needs an army of shoppers to help.
“We need people to go out on our behalf. We are more than happy to tell them what we need and they can actually become our shoppers for us,” Elder said.
They need items like pasta, oatmeal, mac and cheese, canned vegetables and canned soups.
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