Is money what they need? My local is usually short on manpower, which is plentiful now that everyone is out of work.
A lot of foodbanks, unfortunately, aren't accepting new manpower right now :( At least down here in Pierce County. If you're existing volunteer I believe you can still sign-up for shifts but new volunteers, not so much at the moment. And down here they're just as short on money as they are on people.
More now than ever. They have not been able to do food drives like in the past and are discouraging people to organize them on their own due to supply chain issues. They are not currently taking new volunteers. They are getting assistance from the National Guard in packing emergency boxes and kits, so they do have labor. They mostly need help with funding to get food through their sources as they are giving out six months worth of stuff in one. (This is the big regional Foodbank type orgs.) The local pantries may be likely to need volunteers and I have reached out to one in my area but our schedules didn’t quite sync up so for me, my best bet to be helpful for the moment is to try to raise funds. If I find myself no longer working I will reach back out to that pantry to see what I can do for them.
Right. Thanks for your reply... I did a bit of my own research after seeing your post, and saw the National Guard here in Washington State is working heavily with the food banks to get things packaged up and distributed. Thanks for bringing it up. I now know how to help my own local food bank better!
The big pantries not only give out food to people themselves but also support the smaller local pantries as well. So my plan is to try to raise funds for the larger organization and if I can, give time or other means to my smaller local pantry, which will also be benefited by any funds I can give to the bigger org.