With prices at the grocery store only continuing to rise, and products getting harder to find, many community food pantries are feeling the stress.
In Binghamton, the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse (CHOW) is running low on donations, as more than 100 organizations continue to rely on them.
“We’re seeing historic inflation in some ways that no one expected,” said CHOW Director Les Aylesworth.
With each box of food, organizations are helping families in a time of need.
Each week, more than 100 groups come to the warehouse in Binghamton, loading up on supplies for their respective food pantries.
Aylesworth says they, like many, are facing the same struggles in finding food.
“What we’ve had to do is travel farther more often to get food. We go farther upstate, we go down to [Pennsylvania] to ensure that our warehouse is full,” said Aylesworth.
With SNAP’s emergency assistance ending this month, groups like CHOW fear they won’t be able to keep up with the ever growing demand. That only increases the need for more volunteers, who have made the program successful for decades.
“I would say 95% of those agencies are run by volunteers, so you’re talking tens of thousands of volunteer hours are put in to make sure their neighbors are fed,” said Aylesworth.
With more than two million meals distributed each year, and hundreds of thousands of pounds of food given away, the warehouse is a lifesaver for many.
“We want to continue to meet their needs as best as we can, knowing that in some cases, maybe we’re looking at the next generation,” said Aylesworth.
To help meet the community’s need, CHOW offers a mobile food bank that travels to various locations in the Southern Tier, bringing the grocery store to their neighborhood.