KINGWOOD — All 11 Preston County food pantries are still here to help, according to Tammy Laney, coordinator of Food for Preston.
“This past weekend, we served 261 people through the North Preston drive-through of the food pantry in Bruceton Mills,” Laney said.
She said clients remained in their vehicles, while volunteers loaded boxes of canned food, bread, fruit and meat into car trunks. The volunteers wore gloves and maintained the recommended distance.
“Last week, we delivered over 300 family food bags to Preston County schools for the Backpack Program kids, with counselors and teachers coordinating pick-up or delivery to students themselves,” Laney said.
“I am thankful we delivered the family food bags to students last week. Those bags will stretch things further until we can iron out a way to safely distribute more food to students.”
Alix Evans, director of the Raymond Wolfe Center, said it too had an increase in clients last week.
“We ordered extra food from the Mountaineer Food Bank for the Friday delivery,” she said.
Evans said the three-plus tons of food the pantry ordered is its largest order to date.
The Raymond Wolfe Center is the only local food pantry that carries products for clients who require special diets ordered by their physicians. This includes salt-free and sugar-free foods for heart patients and those with diabetes.
Melanie Bentz, director of Starting Points, said the baby pantry was also busy last week, with clients seeking diapers, wipes, baby food and formula. “We haven’t seen an increase in our homeless food pantry yet,” Bentz said.
Laney said Food for Preston is asking for any help people can give through monetary donations as it continues to place bulk orders with limited grocers and the Mountaineer Food Bank.
Donations can be sent to Food for Preston, P.O. Box 1175, Kingwood, WV 26537. Call 304-379-3519 or 304-276-9447 for information.
For Starting Points, call 304-329-1968 or go on Facebook at Preston County Starting Points Family Resource Center.
For the Raymond Wolfe Center, call 304-329-3644. The center is online at https://catholiccharities wv.org/raymond-wolfe-out reach-center.
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