03.31.2009
CHARLESTON AGENCY SUFFERS FROM STRUGGLING ECONOMY
Agency acknowledges that donations are down but still needed
CHARLESTON, W.Va.—A food agency in Kanawha County is discovering that the downturn in the economy is affecting them more than what they expected.
Covenant Outreach is a food pantry in Charleston that provides food for about 25 families a month. A pantry in Oakridge has been open since the 1980s and a pantry in the West Side of Charleston has been open for about eight months. Together they distribute about 1,000 pounds of food a month.
Meridith Angell, director of the Covenant Outreach food pantry, said that donations are down and credits it to the struggling economy.
“The West Side pantry tends to do more business than Oakridge, but donations are noticeably down,” she said. “There aren’t as many people willing to donate. A lot more meats and other items besides canned food have always been donated in the past, but there hasn’t been a lot offered lately.”
Angell also attributes the size of the agency to some of its donation loss.
“We are smaller agency, so it is hard to keep donations up at a time like this when there are a smaller number of people who donate to begin with,” Angell said.
With hopes to raise money for food agencies in 17 different counties throughout West Virginia, Kentucky and Southeastern Ohio, the Huntington Area Food Bank (HAFB) is joining with two student groups at Marshall University to host the sixth annual Empty Bowls event.
The Marshall University Department of Art and Design in the College of Fine Arts’ Keramos Student Pottery Guild and public relations students in the MU W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications are hosting the Empty Bowls event to raise awareness in the Tri-State area about hunger issues. Proceeds from the event benefit the HAFB.
The 2009 Empty Bowls event is Tuesday, April 7, at First Presbyterian Church, 1015 Fifth Ave., Huntington, W.Va. At the event, a $12 donation receives a handcrafted ceramic bowl donated by the Marshall University Keramos Student Pottery Guild, as well as a lunch of soup, bread and Pepsi. The meal is intended to resemble something that would be served at an actual soup kitchen.
The HAFB services Kanawha County with USDA commodities only, which means that the HAFB only distributes government allocated foods to them. Kanawha County receives other regular donated foods from another food bank.
Angell said Empty Bowls is a worthwhile project from which many counties will benefit.
“Anytime you are able to feed somebody, it is a worthy cause. With the money that the HAFB will gain from this event, they will be able to help so many people through so many different agencies,” Angell added.
For more information about the HAFB, call Brooke Ash at (304) 523-6029 or e-mail hafbmail@hafb.org. For more information about the Empty Bowls event, call Campaign Director Meagan Sellards at (304) 412-5900 or e-mail emptybowls@marshall.edu. Erica Rife, the media representative, can be reached at (304) 360-3394, e-mail emptybowls@marshall.edu or visit www.marshall.edu/SOJMC.
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The Huntington Area Food Bank, Inc., is a private, nonprofit, charitable organization affiliated with Feeding America, the largest hunger relief agency in the United States. The HAFB is the hub in a network of food donors and more than 290 agencies that serve hungry people in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio. The HAFB assists food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, senior citizens programs, youth programs and residential programs that directly serve the needs of the hungry. The HAFB member agencies are located in 17 counties throughout the Tri-State area. All member agencies served by the HAFB are private and nonprofit. For more information, please visit www.hafb.org.