OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — KSHB 41 anchor/reporter JuYeon Kim covers agricultural issues and the fentanyl crisis. Share your story idea with JuYeon.
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Every year, donations to KSHB 41’s Fill the Fridge campaign go directly to local food pantries and distribution sites across the Kansas City area.
Some of those donations end up at New Haven Seventh-Day Adventist Church every Tuesday. Dedicated volunteers fill the trunks of local families who wait in long lines that wrap around the block.
Ashley Moore homeschools her kids. Three growing boys mean a constantly empty fridge.
“Some places used to have eggs for like a dollar or two, and now they are like five dollars a carton. And I’m like, how?!" Moore said. "When it’s 12 eggs and you have a family of six, that's two eggs per person for five bucks. That's a lot."
Like many families, the Moores cook a little more and eat out a little less.
Karen Whitson, director of Renewed Hope Food Pantry, says an average of 300 families come through the pantry's mobile food distribution every week.
“We’re all out here handing out this food, but we could not hand it out if there weren’t people donating,” Whitson said. “The donations coming in are what makes a huge difference."
Renewed Hope saw the need for help triple during COVID-19, and it has not gone down since. Harvesters says there was more federal assistance during the pandemic, so the number of people struggling to eat is actually higher right now.
“We have new people coming all the time," Whitson said. "So every week, there's probably 15 to 20 new families coming through. And there's a lot of stories about … people saying I never thought I would have to get help this way."
Community donations mean the difference between those new families getting help or not.
Venus Viglini used to donate her extra food to Harvesters but now comes herself. She encourages others to pay it forward.
“There may be a chance in the future that you may need the help,” Viglini said.
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