Demand growing for food pantries across Charlotte area

With inflation at a 40-year high, many families are struggling to make ends meet. Food banks across the greater Charlotte area are seeing more demand than ever before, as fewer community members are able to make donations.

Feed NC, a nonprofit based in Mooresville, serves Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan and Cabarrus counties. They help feed thousands of families a year as they work to break the cycle of hunger.

Everyday at the Feed NC warehouse is organized chaos. Volunteers sort through boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables, tossing the bad and packing up the good. It’s set up as a makeshift grocery store for families to shop in.

“I don’t have nowhere to work right now, and the prices have gone up, we can’t afford certain things,” David Nieves said.

Nieves is facing the same reality as a growing number of Americans. Officials with Feed NC said they’re seeing 40 new families applying for services each month. Anyone who walks through the doors gets about $200 of groceries for free once a week.

[roxie]

With how much money and tech we have now, nobody in this country should have to worry about literal survival with FOOD. 👏👏👏

[covahsmusicvault]

Beautiful story & program....this NEEDS to be in EVERY region. I'm in NE, Montana & partially grew a 9x15 garden to share with my small town food bank in the event it flourished. Its doing just that & SO MUCH more. My medical dog & her comedic brother are allergic to everything chicken & most chemicals so our garden's 100% organic too. I did countless hours of research & also follow 2 topnotch garden vloggers on in particular from Canada even replies which helps me stay positive as well as informed. I've learned how to companion plant & also share a portion of my harvest with invaders by using a technique called "sacrificial" planting. This garden is 2nd to my dogs in keeping me sane and due to my inability to even look at food right now {detailed story below if interested}....my garden's harvest is going to waste even though I've begged my food bank & a couple church ladies that volunteer at the center where I'm going for my PT to come pick whatever is there & all I've asked in return is either they bring a few cans of soup w/rice or save me a portion of whatever they might make from the countless veggies in my garden so I can freeze it & hopefully eat it when my neck stops causing this nausea .
I'm physically impaired due to a spinal cord accident & in recent months hurt my neck just by lifting a bucket with about 15lbs. inside. For the past 10 days I've only been able to stomach broth & white rice due to what my physical therapy team believes to be a pinched nerve in my cervical spine....I'm scheduled for an MRI on Aug. 1st, so we'll know my fate just days from now. I'm already a documented "fall case." I walk with a cane, have NOT slept more than 90 min. at a time in 5 yrs. as of today...July 30, 2022. I was informed 8 mos. in to this sleep issue I'd likely die from sleep deprivation after my 1st yr. which causes my medical staff to refer to me as a "walking miracle" seeing as my lack of sleep has finally been proven to be from my spinal cord accident which is inoperable. I have a medical dog who won't even allow me to stand up if she feels I could fall down, & a Mobile Alert system that I despise but am forced to have in order for me to live independently with my senior dogs.
I'm sharing my honest & raw story on this video because my town's food bank has been unable to get produce for 2 months now. This baffles me because I have all this bounty going to waste even though I keep pleading for those in the position to "legally" provide food to those less fortunate to come pick these veggies when they deliver my food box....or ANY day they're free to stop by. It's a given that the more crop we harvest, the more said mother plant will keep producing. My garden won't feed this entire town of hands out roughly 200 food boxes per month, but doesn't EVERY little bit help?? I'm a selfless woman in constant agony whose ONLY looking to make darn sure this bounty from Heaven was NOT paid for & nurtured by me alone in vain. I'm even out there every few days making sure its watered. I tried yesterday to pull weeds just enough so ANYONE I had called could more easily get to the abundant crops I'm currently unable to eat.
In case you hadn't noticed from my above heart is aching over this predicament. I'm NOT searching for an award or 10 seconds of fame. I just want this food handed out to folks in MY town that are hungry. I grew up in a cruel adoptive family that withheld food from me just for speaking with my European accent or writing left-handed....I was just 4 yrs. old. I know hunger well & its the VERY reason I'm desperate to share this season's harvest with my community. I feel like I need the prayers of total strangers to make this happen. Many thanks for YOUR prayers....I pray that your family is thriving. Know that there is NO shame in asking for help to feed YOU/YOURS. When things are flourishing for your family, pay it forward to help someone else who is hungry. Ask in return for them to so the same once they're doing better. I honestly have faith that we can STOP hunger worldwide, but ONLY if we ALL contribute to the cause.

[kataisa]

You voted for this. Stop voting Democrat.

[googlebanmetoomuch]

$200 free food a week!? Where do I sign up?