MEMPHIS, Tenn. — COVID may have put the brakes on some aspects of our lives, but not on a challenge like hunger.
The Mid-South Food Bank has seen demand go up more than 300% in its battle against food insecurity.
More people served and more food is a sign of a great need and as that demand grows, so does your opportunity to lend a hand.
"The need is still there. We are still seeing a long line of cars at our mobile distributions," said Cathy Pope Director of the Mid-South Food Bank.
That drove the food bank to increase it's food distribution from $16.7-million pounds of food in one year to $59-million.
"We are still distributing about four to five pounds of food each month and we really anticipate, Rudy, doing that for the next year," said Pope.
But just like families and individuals the food bank has felt the effects of rising gas prices...more fallout from COVID.
"Because of that our expenses have increased significantly. Ninety-three percent actually increase in expenses," said Pope.
The Backpack program that served children facing food insecurity during the summer months is now a part of the food mobility distribution, part of adjustments made to continue the food bank's mission.
"For us to continue at this level we've got to be able to pay these high bills because we're still having to order food, buy gas for the trucks. We hired extra people. We leased more trucks to have more distributions," said Pope.