Free Republic

The shelves at a Bronx food pantry have been bare for the past two weeks as hungry New Yorkers face heightened food insecurity at the beginning of the New Year. The Albanian American Open Hand Association (AAOHA), located in Pelham Parkway, fed around 800 weekly before the pandemic, but that has since doubled to 1,600. For the first time in 10 years, the pantry has been forced to turn people away. For weeks now, hungry New Yorkers have lined up outside AAOHA on Thursdays and Fridays – when food is distributed.

When you give to your local food bank, make sure you're stocking their shelves with what they really need—and avoid what they don't. Next time you’re headed to the grocery store, bulk up your shopping list with a few of these non-perishable items from Feeding America‘s wish list. They’re the items food pantries—and your neighbors in need—can really put to good use. 1. Applesauce Plastic jars of unsweetened applesauce provide a quick snack, fiber and vitamin C. Applesauce also keeps well on food bank shelves. 2. Canned Beans Loaded with protein and fiber, canned beans provide an excellent, nutritious way...

WASHINGTON, N.C. (WNCT) — One high school student in Beaufort County, N.C. is committed to making sure its students are taken care of. Students at Washington High School started a food pantry to make sure none of their classmates go home hungry. What started out as a student government project is now a full time resource to students. Senior Erin Lewis says, “We wanted to focus on those that need it, but they don’t want to tell us that they need it.” Lewis along with other classmates and their supervisor decided to start a food pantry. It offers students non-perishable...

A needful young woman recently visited a food pantry in the southern Indiana city of Seymour, where she applied for emergency assistance. A pantry volunteer helped the woman complete her paperwork, after which the volunteer asked the woman, with loving-kindness, “Is there anything you would like us to pray with you about?” “Yes,” the young woman replied, without hesitation, according to a news story published yesterday by USA Today. So the pantry volunteer grasped the woman’s hands and prayed for her. Community Provisions, the faith-based organization that operates the pantry, has been following the same practice for the past 15...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama family is passing out turkeys, stuffing and other Thanksgiving favorites to people at a food pantry organization. President Barack Obama tucked pumpkin pies into people's bags at Martha's Table in downtown Washington on Wednesday evening and wished them a happy holiday.