CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Residents and visitors coming in for this year’s Charleston Sternwheel Regatta will have a chance to give back through their donations of non-perishable foods.
Mountaineer Food Bank is partnering up with the law firm of Hendrickson & Long, PLLC to hold a food drive on Saturday, July 5 during the annual Regatta. The drive will take place out in front of the law firm at 214 Capitol Street from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.
Steve Hastings with Hendrickson & Long said on 580 Live this week that one of the firm’s founding members, Dave Hendrickson has been passionate about giving back in this way and they have been looking to grow their involvement with Mountaineer Food Bank’s efforts.
“You know, when you have a business in the community, you have an obligation to give back and anyone who may know Dave knows that he wears that on his sleeve, any chance he gets he contributes back to the community,” Hastings said. “The firm has been involved in a lot of activities over the years and this one is near and dear to our heart.”
Hastings said the firm will match the first 1,000 cans delivered to them during the donation event as well as the first $1,000.
Mountaineer Foodbank Donor Relations Officer Alicia Bossie said the most needed items are peanut butter, rice, beans, and beef stew, but they will take any non-perishable food donation that’s brought during the event. She said they will also be accepting cash donations.
Bossie said 1 in 6 adults face food insecurity in West Virginia and 1 in 5 children.
“So, if you think about that, you walk into a classroom of 20 kids, one in five is going to be hungry that day,” Bossie said. “We’re looking at about 250,000 West Virginians overall that face food insecurity.”
Bossie said Mountaineer Food Bank is the largest emergency food provider in West Virginia and they are a part of the nationwide Feeding America program.
She said it has been a particularly busy time for them following the most recent flood disaster that hit the northern panhandle during Father’s Day weekend back in June.
“With the most recent flooding up in Ohio County and some of the other areas, we’ve been active in disaster and getting emergency food boxes up to them,” Bossie said. “We are in 48 of the 55 counties on the road distributing food, getting food to our agency partners.”
Bossie said they work with 460 partnering agencies such as local food banks and soup kitchens.
She said their job is to source the food then distribute it to the agencies across the 48 counties they operate in.
In addition to the agencies they partner with, Mountaineer Food Bank also has some of their own programs they operate like the Veteran’s Table and their Mobile Pantry program.