The summer months are always difficult for the Food Bank for the Heartland, which has a tough time meeting demand once the warm weather arrives. Spokesman Brian Barks says they put out collection barrels to take in donations of canned goods from Thanksgiving through Christmas, but the June through August time-frame is a challenge.
The Omaha-based agency distributes between one-point-two and one-point-five million pounds of food each month to food pantries in 93 counties across Nebraska and western Iowa. A program in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area delivers hot meals at no charge to 15 locations during the summer. For those outside the metro area, Barks says the food bank is holding 20 rural mobile pantries just during the month of June.
Some families are struggling with higher grocery bills now that school is out and many children aren’t getting free or reduced-price lunches at school.
Barks says in their service area, the best data indicates there’s 220,000 people who struggle with the issue of hunger and 91,000 of those are kids under the age of 18.
Learn how you can help at food-bank-heartland-dot-org.
