Record number of families show up to mobile food pantry in West Bend
WEST BEND, Wis. - A West Bend mobile food pantry shattered a record this afternoon – for the number of families served. There is a growing need for fresh produce, and people are stepping up to get it delivered.
"I make sure to bring fresh produce every single time," said Brooke Gonzalez of Feeding America.
In West Bend, when a mobile food pantry shows up – this is the kind of reception they get.
"This one specifically in West Bend, we usually serve around 200 families, so today we brought over 12,000 pounds of food, and we’re serving it to the community," Gonzalez said.
Hundreds of cars – with families in dire need of fresh food.
"Because a lot of people are off of work, you’ve got big families to take care of," Ron Bath said. "I mean, what are you going to do? You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Bath says the pandemic has put a lot of people in this community in a bad spot.
And with that in mind – they showed up an hour and a half early.
"No, we were in the way back!" he said. "Last time we were here there was over 100 cars.”
As car after car drove through with no end in sight, it was clear today they were going to break a record.
"Since the pandemic, we’ve been able to output almost 84% more food – which is awesome!” Gonzalez said.
The site's previous record for families served was 250.
But Monday afternoon — they shattered it — with more than 300 families fed.
"People need help – we can do this much," said Karen Rankin of the Full Shelf Food Pantry
A volunteer at the site, she says she also gives her time to a food pantry across town. And there too, records are being broken.
"We usually get about 25 new families a month," she said. "Since the pandemic, we’re doing between 50 and 60 a week.”
Fortunately, everyone who showed up today left with a trunk full of food. And that's something we can all be thankful for.
If you’d like to assist the organizations that make mobile food pantries like this possible – CLICK HERE.
Featured
West Bend police ask for help in search for missing teen
West Bend Police are asking for the public's help to locate 16-year-old Carlos Canales-Lopez.
Featured
Several $500 fines for Serb Hall after pro-Trump rally shut down
It was an ugly series of events outside Serb Hall Saturday afternoon, as a representative of the event space took the mic, asking people to take a seat.