OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — With unemployment skyrocketing amid the coronavirus pandemic, some families are forced to figure out how to feed everyone, which, in turn, has local food pantries seeing the demand soar.
On Saturday, the Overland Park Christian Church held a drive-thru food pantry with several volunteers outside to hand bags of food and other essential items into the cars of those in need.
Rev. Laura Phillips, senior pastor at Overland Park Christian Church said that one of their “biggest struggles” has been their volunteer base.
"Our volunteers have been high risk because they are in the older-age category,” Phillips said, “so we’ve certainly had to change how we do the food pantry.”
They’ve been hosting a food pantry for more than a decade, but have noticed a shift in who needs assistance.
"We’ve also seen a change in the demographics,” Phillips said, “so whereas we might have had more of elderly individuals that were coming before, now it’s families of all types.”
The pantry helped a few dozen people, including Eric Murrell.
"Sometimes the part-time work isn’t enough finance for the household,” Murrell said, “So sometimes you refer to some of the pantries along the way and so that’s a big help."
To help the growing need, the church will hold a third food pantry on Monday at 1 p.m. Volunteers will hand out 10 pallets of food from Harvesters.
"Because they have so much fresh food right now, there are farmers that would normally sell their produce to restaurants,” Phillips said, “and since they are unable to do that they’re donating their fresh produce to Harvesters.”
