By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Increased gas and food prices have had an impact on families across the United States this year, including in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas. The
impacts are also being felt by Second Harvest Community Food Bank.
Beginning in August, Second Harvest will be conducting fewer Fresh Mobile Pantries each month. Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Chad Higdon says the agency has been trying to hold off on cutting back these mobile pantries for as long as possible.
"Basically, we've really been trying to do as much as we could with what we had," Higdon told St. Joseph Post. "The increased food cost, lower resources. I think we have a good plan just to continue to help people as much as we can going forward. It's just something we have to in order to work toward a balanced budget."
Starting next month, Mobile Food Pantries will no longer be at the R-O-C in St. Joseph, White Cloud, Braymer, Maryville, Lathrop, Elwood, Reserve, Bethany, Ludlow, Winston, Polo and Skidmore.
Higdon says there are partner agencies in each of these communities that can still help those in need.
"We still have partner agencies in every county that we serve," he said. "We're still continuing at least one mobile pantry in every county. So, there's still resources out there. It might just be you have to travel a little further. We know that's tough, too with the families who are struggling to put food on the table. That also means challenges for transportation."
Higdon says Second Harvest is still doing its best to reach out to the communities it serves to get donations during these hard times.
"We're out there trying to solicit donations and build support," he said. "If there is an opportunity to expand some of those and add some of those (mobile pantries) back, we'll do everything we can to bring in the resources to make that happen."
Second Harvest, which serves 19 counties in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas, has posted on its Facebook page a list of resources and agencies they partner with in each town it serves as a way to help people who rely on the mobile pantries.