BOISE, Idaho — As restaurants, bars and stores continue to shutter because of the coronavirus, local unemployment is going up. So is the need for food.
On Wednesday, the Idaho Foodbank received a much-needed donation: 13,000 pounds of chicken from Walmart and Tyson Foods.
"They recognize these are some challenging times for people in Idaho and they stepped up and brought us this beautiful truckload of chicken," Idaho Foodbank President Karen Vauk said.
The Idaho Foodbank serves as a statewide distributor for food assistance to more than 400 partners across the state. Those partners include food pantries, soup kitchens, schools and senior centers- almost all of which now say they need more food.
"Most areas are seeing an increase in demand. We're still going through and analyzing that data, but we're seeing increase from 10 percent to 30 percent, and in some cases even higher," Vauk said.
The Foodbank expects the demand to increase even more over the next two months.
"The first thing is we're really going to need to increase the volume of food. We've got to get more food out through the network," Vauk said.
She says people can help on both the individual level - like holding food drives for their local pantry - and on a larger scale.
"On a state level, we need truckloads of food," Vauk said. "We need big volume and we need it now."
Despite what it looks like at grocery stores, where some shelves sit empty, there is not a shortage of food. But there is a bottleneck of getting it to stores, and therefore to the shelves of the foodbank.
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"We're talking with other food manufacturers about the availability of food and they've all assured us, there's plenty of food," Vauk said. "The food is in the pipeline, it's just not flowing as quickly as we need it."
The Idaho Foodbank is asking anyone who can to donate food - or even better, cash. Just $1 can provide up to five meals for those in need.
Volunteers are also needed: Lots of the current volunteers are older, placing them in the at-risk category for coronavirus. As a result, many are staying home.
The Meridian Foodbank announced Thursday morning that they will switch to drive-through service only to protect both their volunteers and the people who come seeking food. Hours at the Meridian location will remain set at Mondays and Wednesdays from noon to 6 and Thursdays from noon to 4.
Anyone who is healthy is asked to consider volunteering. The Idaho Foodbank is limiting volunteer teams to ten at the most in order to maintain social distancing.
To donate or sign up to volunteer, click here.
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