LYNCHBURG, Va. – One full year into the pandemic, we’re seeing COVID-19 take a major toll on food insecurity in our area.
It’s all hands on deck at Lynchburg Daily Bread, where an assembly line of volunteers continues to fight hunger.
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“We set a record in 2020. We served 115,000 meals, which has never been done before. Our prior record was under 80,000,” said Tracey Dixon, the executive director.
They traditionally serve hot meals to homeless residents. Dixon said now it’s mainly working families who have fallen on hard times.
In 2019, the organization used 5,500 disposable food containers a month. Last year, they used more than 11,000 a month.
Realizing to-go containers are the way to go, Daily Bread’s getting rid of indoor dining permanently by renovating the old dining room.
“What we’re moving towards is making this room a double-serving window, so we’ll be able to help people two at a time. It will increase that social distance and also make our service faster,” said Dixon.
The organization’s also reaching those struggling with transportation by delivering meals to a dozen locations in our area.
Delivering food is also the mission of Meals on Wheels of Greater Lynchburg.
Kris Shabestar, the executive director, said they set a personal record for serving vulnerable, homebound residents.
“In 2020, Meals on Wheels delivered 118,000 meals. That’s 33,000 more meals than we did in 2019.”
Shabestar added they received more than 400 new recipients.
One of the biggest reasons is because vulnerable residents have had to be socially distanced from their caregivers.
“Their support systems may be the ones that take them to the grocery store, or that bring them a meal on a weekend. That was significantly reduced,” said Shabestar.
Meals on Wheels created nine new routes and trained hundreds of new volunteers.
The organizations say while there’s a need for vaccines, there’s an even greater need for food.