Orange County Food Bank In Need Of Donations As Need For Food Doubles Pre-Pandemic Numbers
GARDEN GROVE (CBSLA) — Food banks are looking for more donations to feed families during the holidays this year as the need for food is twice what it was before the pandemic.
A freezer at the Orange County Food Bank should be stacked with chicken, lunchmeats and cheese but because of a lack of availability, it was empty Monday afternoon.
Each month, nearly half a million people receive food from the non-profit. like this Stanton woman putting boxes into her car.
"I just simply have too many complaints about the food prices lately. It's just simply too much," said Stanton resident Sam Khou.
With inflation at a 30-year-high on top of the pandemic, the food bank is handing out twice the amount of food it did pre-pandemic and is having to cope with supply chain issues.
"This is a huge hit to already struggling Orange County families who are now being hit with this, and just making everything more expensive along with the challenge of even getting supplies, and making it harder for families to make decisions on what they can afford to buy and what they can't," said Gregory Scott, President and CEO of Community Action Partnership.
Because of supply chain issues, there isn't much surplus within the food industry, which usually donates.
That, coupled with the fact that there aren't as many holiday parties where companies would host food drives, has made the food bank have to purchase more food than usual.
For many, extra assistance that was being offered during the pandemic has ended. Those people now rely on the food bank when they are in need.
For more information, visit www.capoc.org.
