BRADENTON, Fla. — As food pantries struggle to keep up with demand, the supply chain issues affecting grocery stores are magnified for those who source food through donations.
What You Need To Know
- As food pantries struggle to keep up with demand, the supply chain issues affecting grocery stores are magnified for those who source food through donations
- Jim Shilling, who helps operate the food pantry at the 53rd Ave. Church of Christ in Bradenton, says certain crucial items are getting harder and harder to find
- The food bank receives much of their large donations from grocery and big box stores, which have been strained with supply chain issues
Jim Shilling helps operate the food pantry at the 53rd Ave. Church of Christ in Bradenton. Every Wednesday morning, his team hands out food boxes to roughly 200 cars. Each box is designed to provide well-rounded meals to a small family for a week.
For the past three months, Shilling says certain crucial items are getting harder and harder to find. During his Tuesday haul at the Food Bank of Manatee County, he found only about one-sixth of the meat that he usually does.
The food bank receives much of their large donations from grocery and big box stores, which have been strained with supply chain issues.
“200 pounds divided over 700 people. That’s one-third of a pound per person, for a week,” he explained.
Shilling uses multiple sources in order to keep the pantry well-rounded and stocked. He does a weekly trip on Tuesday mornings to the Food Bank of Manatee and then receives a shipment from Feeding Tampa Bay and USDA. While he can pick and choose what he would like to take from the food bank, what is available from week to week varies. Lately, meat and some produce have been in short supply.
“That’s why I try to source everything I get it from multiple locations. We have to get a lot of food out to a lot of people, so if it’s not that much food then I have to get it from other places,” he explained.
Feeding Tampa Bay confirmed they are also seeing shortages in protein, but they use monetary donations to help supplement.
