Canandaigua, NY (WHAM) — It’s been a rough season for The Salvation Army food distribution in Canandaigua.
Management posted photos of empty shelves on social media and asked the community for help.
“With kids out of school and so on, the need is just greater,” says Major Pamela Rhodes, corps officer for the Salvation Army in Canandaigua. “So every summer we have a hard time.”
This summer, the pantry has had a particularly difficult time meeting demand and has been operating in “crisis mode” for the past few weeks.
“In fact, from last year to today, we’ve seen an increase of almost 45 percent in the number of new customers enjoying services for the first time,” Rhodes said.
Another problem is the rising cost and financing of food.
“Prices continue to rise and our resources remain insufficient to meet demand,” Rhodes said.
The Salvation Army of Canandaigua is a member of Foodlink and recently announced that it will receive reduced grant funding from United Way next year.
“This decision will impact more than 170 of our nonprofit member organizations and dozens of other food distribution partners who rely on this pass-through funding to stock their shelves and serve thousands of our neighbors each month,” Foodlink said in a statement on August 8.
MORE |Foodlink claims it will no longer receive ‘critical’ funding from United Way|United Way of Greater Rochester reveals part of reduced list of 2025 grant recipients
“We buy a lot of food from Foodlink,” Rhodes explained, “so I don’t know how all this is going to play out, but I do know we have a big funding gap and I’m not sure where or how we’re going to fill it.”
In the meantime, she hopes more people will bring donations to support the pantry.
“I know we’re going to have the same problem next week and the week after until we get inventories back to the level we need,” Rhodes said.
We are looking for hygiene products and the following food items for the pantry:
- Protein (e.g. peanut butter, canned tuna, canned chicken, etc.)
- Grain
- Juice
- Pancake mix
- ramen
- Macaroni and cheese
To learn more about The Salvation Army in Canandaigua, click here.
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