ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Area Foodbank has distributed 16.7 million meals since March 16 as part of coronavirus relief efforts.
Before the pandemic, there were more than 400,000 people in 26 counties served by the food bank who were struggling to put food on the table, according to a news release.
That number has increased due to job losses, furloughs and children being out of school for an extended period of time.
“There is no playbook for something like this. Would we run into food supply chain issues? Would people continue to donate if their employment status changed? Would we still be able to utilize volunteers and if so, would they show up? People in this community rising to the challenge time and time again is how we were able to exceed our goal,” said St. Louis Area Foodbank President Meredith Knopp. “We are so grateful because we know food is desperately needed by so many people in the bi-state region right now and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.”
The food bank has brought on 70 new food distribution sites since March.
Across the food bank’s service territory in eastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois, 552 mobile distributions of food, cleaning supplies and hygiene products were conducted from March 16 through June 30.
During the food bank’s previous fiscal year, from October 2018 to June 2019, there were 676 similar distributions conducted, the release said.
In addition to food being distributed during the pandemic, staff members also helped 363 people in Missouri and 127 people in Illinois complete SNAP applications.
For more information on the St. Louis Area Foodbank's COVID-19 relief efforts, click here.
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