Every year during the holiday season, thoughts turn to those who are without — especially those who are hungry in our communities. Generosity abounds, and it is beautiful to see so many people eager to assist the less fortunate.
But food insecurity doesn’t recognize a calendar. Those who cannot afford to feed themselves and their children still depend on local organizations — foodbanks, soup kitchens — for help, even when the weather is warm and the public isn’t thinking about family meals or festive dinners.
Those organizations can use our help today, and the need is urgent. Though times are tough for many, area residents with the means to give are encouraged to do so, knowing their kindness can make a substantial difference at a challenging moment.
For most people, hunger is a temporary condition, a distraction or an inconvenience. Skip a meal and the stomach growls in protest, but it will be sated soon enough with a snack or a sandwich. It’s nothing to worry about.
For others in Hampton Roads, however, the gnaw of hunger is a debilitating, unrelenting affliction. It steadily eats away at body and mind, leading to desperation and depression. A meal, when it comes, is a treasure.
Nearly every community wrestles with the issue of hunger, and nearly every community has organizations working to assist those who cannot afford to put food on their table. Some people need occasional help, others more frequently, and these groups do what they can with what they have to satisfy the need for as many in need as possible.
Demand for that help exploded in 2020 when COVID-19 swept across the country. In short order, millions found themselves out of work, plunged into poverty by the inescapable effects of a global health crisis. Who can forget the snaking lines of cars at food distribution sites or the tears of relief shed by recipients, knowing they and their families would have what they needed to endure.
Something special happened in that crucible of crisis: As the number of people needing food assistance soared, so did donations of assistance from those in more advantageous economic positions. Calls went out from local food banks for donations and donations they received.
The effort was helped by the temporary expansion of federal assistance programs, which sought to accommodate the swell of demand for help. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that enrollment in Virginia’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ballooned from 330,000 in March 2020 to 470,000 this year, when Washington formally ended the public health emergency and contracted the programs providing temporary relief.
While conditions have brightened considerably since the darkest days of the pandemic, there remains a large population in Virginia still struggling to get by — atop those who needed help before COVID and still do now that the virus has receded.
The Virginia Peninsula Foodbank reported this week that requests for help in the first quarter of this year is 27% greater than the same period of 2022. The organization offered this information while encouraging donations at a food drive on Saturday evening at the Lionsbridge Football Club soccer match at TowneBank Stadium in Newport News. (For more information, visit lionsbridgefc.com.)
Both the Peninsula group and its sibling across the water, the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, are working tirelessly to provide for Hampton Roads who are hungry. Both urge families in need of assistance to contact them about receiving it as promptly as possible.
But as these are donation-driven groups, largely staffed by volunteers, our local food banks need some help of their own. While they may be flush with donations come Thanksgiving and Christmas, the middle of June is far less fertile ground for harvesting the resources they need for their important work.
If you have the means, please visit hrfoodbank.org or foodbankonline.org (or both!) to learn how even a modest regular donation can make an enormous difference for our Hampton Roads neighbors.
