SAN DIEGO — The latest round of lockdowns on businesses across the state of California has only heightened the need for food for thousands of families in this pandemic. Food Banks and religious organizations are still stepping up here in San Diego County to meet the needs of those struggling to put food on the table.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, food banks and service organizations have been providing groceries for people who need it. And with the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, the number of those in need continues to go up.
“People are in that kind of a situation right now. You, know that car may be fully paid off, but they literally have no food at home,” said Gavon Morris, Chief Philanthropy Officer for Feeding San Diego.
It’s not just low-income families who need help getting food. People from all walks of life are facing the same challenge, fighting food insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re really looking at at least two to three years at this level of hunger and especially with the new stay-at-home order. I would expect those levels of hunger to even increase from where they’ve been at most recently,” Morris said.
Morris said they’ve seen at least a 50% jump in the amount of families they serve since the pandemic began and they’ve had to purchase more food in order to meet the needs of the community.
Rock Church is also stepping up to feed San Diegans. It started working with the San Diego Food Bank last year and said now it serves about one to two hundred families a week.
“Through that partnership, we’ve been able to acquire and release over 81,000 pounds of food and we’ve distributed over 2,200 diapers to the community. The beautiful thing is that, folks can come from wherever they are, however they find themselves and make their way over to Rock Church,” said Mario Compean, a Rock Church Associate Pastor.
Feeding San Diego said it does get funds from the state, but it’s the private donations that allow it to serve anyone who comes to them, no questions asked.
If you want to help in anyway, you can donate money online here and the Rock Church said it can always use more volunteers.