PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – Local food banks are struggling to meet demand as more families experience food insecurity.
Love Thy Neighbor prides itself on feeding those in need, but lately the shelves have been emptier.
“It’s really hard for us to turn families away,” says Joanne Braccio, a volunteer at the St. Petersburg food bank.
“We can’t keep the shelves full all the time. We try our best to give people what they need, but supplies are going as fast as they come in,” Braccio said.
Demand is higher than ever before.
“We’ve noticed that 30% more people come here after school starts. We’re overloaded every day,” Braccio said.
You see more and more young families.
“Free school lunches are being phased out. And then only the kids who are in school are getting free lunches. The kids who are at home are left with no resources during the year because they can’t feed the younger kids,” said Linda Fox of Radiant Church.
“We actually have to say, ‘Let me see what we have,’ when we don’t actually have that much to feed them,” said Eileen O’Brien of House of Hope Church.
Braccio isn’t giving up. She’s working to raise more money and is also partnering with local churches to open a new food bank in St. Pete.
“So we can serve more people,” Braccio said.
The new location will be the House of Hope Church and organizers hope this will make a difference.
“My goal is to ensure that no one in this country goes hungry,” Braccio said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a consumer warning about replacement airbags that have killed at least three people in the past year. I-Team investigator Adam Walser found that one of the victims was a young Florida mother whose family has filed a lawsuit claiming a counterfeit Chinese airbag exploded in her car and killed her.
Exploding airbag kills mother in Florida and highlights potential dangers in used cars
