How you can help in these challenging times

Dear Food Bank Family,

We know that your inbox has probably been inundated with many messages regarding the Coronavirus, so we want to be mindful of your time. We know many of you have questions and are wondering how this might be affecting the work we do. Here are three things you should know:

1. Currently, we are currently not shutting down any of our operations or volunteer activities.

2. We are taking extra measures to ensure the safety of our volunteers and staff.

As an AIB International (a food safety audit firm) certified facility, we already hold ourselves to the highest food safety standards. However, since this outbreak, we have added additional safety measures including sending volunteers or staff members home if they exhibit any infectious symptoms and diligently cleaning commonly touched surfaces more frequently.

3. Yes, we do need your help!

Volunteer: We have already experienced several cancellations of volunteer groups and are prepping for more. If you are healthy and able, please sign up for a volunteer shift.

Give: People who would like to support our work can do so at foodbankccs.org/disaster

The need for our services during this national emergency will only grow with reduced or disappearing paychecks and children no longer able to receive their school meals because of shutdowns. We are anticipating many hardworking people who have never needed our services before will find themselves at a food distribution for the first time.

The Food Bank will continue to closely monitor COVID-19 and will follow all regulations and requirements passed down by the CDC and government officials. We are taking this pandemic seriously and have started contingency plans in all aspects of our work. Our plan is to continue to feed the 178,000 people that depend on us for 75% of their daily groceries.

We will keep you posted as our response evolves. You can get immediate updates by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you for helping us continue vital services in these uncertain times. We know what our community is capable of and we will get through this together!