Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren vog Obam here. This episode is part of
Speaker 1: our ongoing series surrounding the novel type of coronavirus identified
Speaker 1: in which causes what's therefore being called COVID nineteen. Because
Speaker 1: everything is a little less scary when you understand it better.
Speaker 1: With children at home and countless adults out of work,
Speaker 1: food pantries and food banks are more important than ever
Speaker 1: for many Americans. They've been the difference between eating and
Speaker 1: not eating for years. With the novel coronavirus pandemic, that
Speaker 1: demand for food could soar higher than we've seen in
Speaker 1: our lifetimes, And so what do we do to ensure
Speaker 1: these essential local food pantries stay afloat? Honestly, it won't
Speaker 1: be easy. We took, for example, our local Atlanta Community
Speaker 1: Food Bank, which as one of the ten largest food
Speaker 1: banks in the world, distributes more than sixty million meals
Speaker 1: to more than seven people across the Metro Atlanta area
Speaker 1: and North Georgia. But maintaining those numbers isn't its only concern.
Speaker 1: The food bank is usually staffed by hundreds of volunteers.
Speaker 1: Now it has zero. It discontinued its volunteer programs to
Speaker 1: help curb the spread of the virus, and the staff
Speaker 1: is brainstorming new approaches to tackle COVID nineteen head on.
Speaker 1: We spoke with Kyle Wade, President and CEO of the
Speaker 1: Atlantic Community Food Bank. He said, we have to adopt
Speaker 1: distribution methods and minimize the number of workers coming in
Speaker 1: and out, and instead of asking people to come into
Speaker 1: pantries to shop as they would in a grocery store,
Speaker 1: we're asking pantries to prepackaged food into bags and boxes
Speaker 1: for drive through distributions where the client never leaves the car.
Speaker 1: Other food banks across the country are similarly adapting. In Ohio,
Speaker 1: one of the earliest states to impose restaurant closures and
Speaker 1: self isolation rules, food banks stopped serving hot food and
Speaker 1: began distributing brown bag grabb and go meals. According to
Speaker 1: ABC and Toledo, staff members at local food pantry Helping
Speaker 1: Hands of St. Louis are wearing gloves and in some
Speaker 1: case masks, and they're using tape on the sidewalk to
Speaker 1: show clients where to stand for proper social distancing while
Speaker 1: waiting for food. Their team had to stop accepting donations entirely.
Speaker 1: After curbing its volunteer program for safety and harvest, Hope
Speaker 1: Food Bank in South Carolina shifted its distribution model to
Speaker 1: drive through only to limit person to person contact with
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen shuttering businesses across the country, The need to
Speaker 1: feed the hungry grows rapidly at the same time grocery
Speaker 1: stores are overrun with scared shoppers. Though rest assured supply
Speaker 1: chain experts say that toilet paper supplies will be restocked
Speaker 1: and general food supplies should become more normal as panic
Speaker 1: buying subsides. So how will food banks access the bulk
Speaker 1: of supplies they need? For one, Wade says, the Atlantic
Speaker 1: Community Food Bank will lean heavily on partner farmers. He said,
Speaker 1: farms have excess produce and that's a big part of
Speaker 1: our supply chain right now, so we'll rely on that
Speaker 1: even more. Because of pre existing grocery store partnerships, food
Speaker 1: pantries can source bulk products quickly and with better margins
Speaker 1: than consumers, and that's why food banks around the country
Speaker 1: are asking community members to donate funds instead of food.
Speaker 1: Wade said, you can give me a can of food
Speaker 1: that costs you a dollar or you can give me
Speaker 1: a dollar and I can get nine cans of food.
Speaker 1: This is the same even outside disaster times. For the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Community Food Bank, funds are also more essential than
Speaker 1: ever because they, like many other nonprofits, have had to
Speaker 1: cancel fundraising events. In March of twenty nineteen, their Hunger
Speaker 1: Walk run generated eighty thou dollars with ten thousand participants,
Speaker 1: but this year it's been canceled. School closures across the
Speaker 1: country could leave up to thirty million kids without meals,
Speaker 1: according to CNBC. That's because the National School Program feeds
Speaker 1: up to thirty million children per day, the correlated Breakfast
Speaker 1: Program feeds fourteen point seven million children daily, and the
Speaker 1: Child and Adult Care Food Program serves more than six
Speaker 1: point one million children. With schools closed, national and local
Speaker 1: groups are doing their best to keep children fed. In
Speaker 1: North Carolina, for example, No Kid Hungry and See is
Speaker 1: continuously updating a list of free school meal locations. In
Speaker 1: northern Kentucky, restaurants like Poseidon's Pizza Company are supplementing local
Speaker 1: school cafeteria efforts by offering free small pizzas to k
Speaker 1: through twelve kids. According to Fox nineteen, celebrity chef Jose
Speaker 1: Andres turned his New York City and Washington d C
Speaker 1: Michelin starred restaurants into take away kitchens to help those
Speaker 1: in need. Employees are asking for seven dollars per meal,
Speaker 1: although those who can't afford to pay don't have to.
Speaker 1: Andreas is also working with other restaurants to serve as
Speaker 1: community kitchens to cook for World Central Kitchen, and he's
Speaker 1: calling on more to do the same where possible, and
Speaker 1: food pantries can help with this too. The Atlantic Community
Speaker 1: Food Bank is bringing supplemental food to five local school districts,
Speaker 1: adding to the resources local cafeterias have in place for
Speaker 1: daily meals for children and their families. Wade said, we're
Speaker 1: providing about ten thousand pounds that's kilos of food per
Speaker 1: week per site right now. That's about a quarter of
Speaker 1: a million pounds of food we expect to provide these
Speaker 1: schools altogether. The Feeding American Network, which the Atlantic Community
Speaker 1: Food Bank is a partner member of, is taking unprecedented
Speaker 1: steps to insure its members are able to feed people
Speaker 1: in their local neighborhoods. Feeding America launched a COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: Response Fund, a national food and fundraising effort to support
Speaker 1: people facing hunger. They're working with government leaders to insure
Speaker 1: its response include support and flexibility for federal nutrition programs,
Speaker 1: ensuring that the twenty two million children who rely on
Speaker 1: school meals have access to food outside of the classroom,
Speaker 1: building an inventory of emergency food boxes to just tribute
Speaker 1: to food banks as need increases, and providing emergency grants
Speaker 1: to food banks. As food banks rushed to meet increased demands,
Speaker 1: They're doing so without one of their loyal donor groups, restaurants,
Speaker 1: which are largely either closed or operating with limited menus
Speaker 1: of takeout and delivery only, and have had to lay
Speaker 1: off many employees. Waite says that the local restaurants are
Speaker 1: essential partners for the food bank, but it's not the
Speaker 1: food donations from them that he's worried about. Quote, since
Speaker 1: restaurants are increasingly skilled at eliminating waste, the food from
Speaker 1: restaurants is a tiny component of the food we distribute.
Speaker 1: Our hearts are breaking for our restaurant partners and the
Speaker 1: industry because we know many of the people will serve
Speaker 1: in the months and years to come will be people
Speaker 1: in that industry. But for organizations like the Atlanta Community
Speaker 1: Food Bank, a little goes a long way. Big donations
Speaker 1: from celebrities like Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who gave
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars to the food Bank and to
Speaker 1: Giving Kitchen, which is an Atlanta nonprofit that provides emergencies.
Speaker 1: This int two food service workers will keep many Georgians fed.
Speaker 1: But Wade acknowledges that times are tight. You don't need
Speaker 1: a huge bank account to make a difference, he said.
Speaker 1: Even if you can't donate cash, you can spread the
Speaker 1: words so people know about the food Bank. The need
Speaker 1: is tremendous. Everyone wants to help, and even letting your
Speaker 1: network know about the food bank services can make a difference.
Speaker 1: Today's episodes written by Stephanie Vermilion and produced by Tyler Klang.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other topics, visit
Speaker 1: how Stuff works dot com. Brainstuff is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from My heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.