SALEM, Va. – A critical source of food for much of Southwest Virginia could be depleted before the end of the month.
As of Monday, Feeding Southwest Virginia only had two to two-and-a-half weeks worth of food left, according to CEO Pam Irvine.
The food bank was expecting two semi-trucks of food deliveries for the week compared to what they usually get, which can be as many as 12.
On top of that, demand for food was through the roof.
At Kids Soar in Roanoke Monday afternoon, there were multiple boxes of food from Feeding Southwest Virginia.
“We’ve been serving about 75 children a day for five days," said Kids Soar CEO Candace Hess.
Adults also get food.
The food on hand from Feeding Southwest Virginia was only a two-week supply when the organization got it last week.
Kids Soar has a pantry of its own, but it won’t be enough if Feeding America can’t provide food.
“I don’t know what we would do. We would have to really look at who we’re serving and really cut down and back who we can serve," Hess said.
For many clients, not getting food from the organization could mean they won’t know where their next meal is going to come from.
“It’s very heartbreaking,” Hess said.
Another local organization, St. Francis House, receives 6-10 tons of food each month from Feeding Southwest Virginia.
According to a spokesperson for St. Francis House, if Feeding America could no longer supply food, St. Francis House “would not be in a position to continue to distribute food at its current capacity.”
Irvine said for the first time ever she broke down and cried in a recent interview about Feeding Southwest Virginia’s situation.
“As a leader, you want to be strong. Do you want to assure your people, your staff, your volunteers, your community that we are OK, but I began to realize we’re not OK,” Irvine said.
She said 110,00 people a month rely on the food bank.
“We don’t want to say crisis too often, but for the first time in our 39 years I would have to say this is the worst crisis that our country and our organization his faced,” said Irvine.
Some help was on the way Monday, but exactly how much was unclear.
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, had agreed to donate $100 million to Feeding America, of which Feeding Southwest Virginia is a chapter.
There are 200 chapters across the U.S. How much each one will get was unclear Monday.
Feeding Southwest Virginia will use the money to purchase more food.
“I had a personal conversation with the CEO of Feeding America last Thursday when she realized we had a crisis. She called me personally. She wanted to assure me there would be funds that would be coming to the food bank and they would help us with food," Irvine said.
If you would like to help the food bank, click here.