Southeast Mo. Food Bank distributes 16.35M pounds of food during pandemic response
Southeast Mo. Food Bank distributes 16.35M pounds of food during pandemic response By Amber Ruch | January 27, 2021 at 9:24 AM CST - Updated January 27 at 4:15 PM
SIKESTON, Mo. (KFVS) - Southeast Missouri Food Bank distributed 16.35 million pounds of food during 2020.
That’s 13.6 million meals, and more than 3 million pounds more than was distributed in 2019.
“If anyone had told us at the start of 2020 that we were going to distribute more than 16 million pounds of food and hold nearly double the number of mobile food distributions, we probably would have said, ‘No way. We don’t have the resources for that,’” said food bank Chief Executive Officer Joseph Keys. “But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, and we started seeing double the number of people needing food assistance because of lost jobs and wages, we rallied quickly and kept up that pace during pretty much the whole year.�