LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — For months God's Pantry Food Bank has served 50 Kentucky counties on crisis mode, and the need is still growing.
"We're serving about 800, to 1000 families a week. That's double what we used to serve," said God's Pantry Food Bank Social Worker Mary Alice Daniels.
For more than a month, the National Guard packed boxes of food, and the Fayette County Sheriff's Department delivered some of those boxes to those who could not leave their homes.
"They have done phenomenal work, they have, they've saved our lives," Daniels explained.
But their services come to an end later this week, and the requests keep pouring in at godspantry.org.
"Our process is still the same. We're still here to check your referrals. It's a very quick and easy phone call. (859) 259-2308. A volunteer will answer the phone and take your information and get signed up to visit a pantry," said Daniels. "And if you're not in Lexington we have a 'Find Help' tab on our website where you can go, select the county that you live in and a list of agencies will pop up, and that will show you which pantry, you can visit in your county."
She explained they thankfully are not turning anyone away.
"When someone calls, we ask for their name, their birthday, their address and their income, we like to, you know, see who we're serving, but we're not turning anyone away. If they need the assistance, we're providing it."
The Food Bank hopes they can continue to serve at the doubled rate for as long as the need is there, but more volunteers and donations will be vital.
"The need is still there," Daniels said. "We're still meeting that need thankfully with our volunteers that are there with our donations, with our financial donations that are coming in, we're still meeting that need. But it's still there. It hasn't gone away."
