Angela Stanley of Spotsylvania County waited in her car for her turn at the popup food pantry in Caroline County on Wednesday and was surprised to see U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine among those handing out food.
Stanley has been laid off from her job as a school bus driver since schools closed because of the spread of the coronavirus.
“This is the first time I have collected food,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed and so thankful.”
Wednesday’s food distribution was held in the parking lot at Third Mount Zion Baptist Church in Woodford. The Army National Guard joined Virginia’s senator and Fredericksburg Food Bank workers in handing out about 6,000 pounds of perishable food to 70 households.
The demand at food banks across the country has skyrocketed in recent weeks—increasing by as much as 600 percent at some—showing just how dramatic the effects of the economic downturn have been.
“The numbers doubled basically overnight,” said Dayle Reschick, interim president and CEO for Fredericksburg Food Bank. “In a month, we have distributed 600,000 pounds of food.”
Reschick estimates 30 percent of local food pantries have shut down because of COVID-19, so now they bring food to the people. The Food Bank averages 11 pop-up distributions a week in Fredericksburg and Caroline, Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George and Orange counties.
Kaine visited the new distribution site in Woodford, where he learned about the Food Bank’s work and distribution process to support the community during the pandemic.
Last month, he expressed concern with the disproportionately small share of food that Virginia has received under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box program and the lack of approved distributors able to meet the needs of food banks in rural areas.
“We have provided significant food assistance with the Cares Act since March and now are going back to do more and focus on the problems people are facing such as hunger, eviction, and shortage of child care,” Kaine said in an interview Wednesday. “The area food banks are doing amazing work handling the spikes in demand.”
Kaine also raised issues with the lack of contracts awarded to Virginia-based distributors and noted the trouble that food banks throughout the Commonwealth have had in finding approved distributors able to reach more rural areas.
Kaine said the COVID-19 legislature and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program online purchasing pilot program will be his top priority when Congress reconvenes. The online program allows SNAP recipients to order their groceries online amid the current health crisis.
Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank distribution sites and schedules can be found online at fredfood.org and on the phone app at FredFoodVA.
