Chambana Sun

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an increase in demand to food pantries, with the Eastern Illinois Foodbank and its network of food pantries striving to keep up with demand. 

Carol Olsen, director of the food pantry at St. James United Methodist Church in Danville, said they are still able to feed the families that come, but as a safety precaution people can no longer pick out what food they want, according to the News-Gazette. Staff now hand families prepacked bags of food to reduce the amount of contact people have with each other. 

Olsen said even though they are prepared with extra food, they sometimes run out, according to the News-Gazette. 

“We had told people we would be open from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. (one recent day), but by 4:30, our bags were all gone,” she said.

The food pantry at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Tolono has also seen an increase in demand.

Jan Blaney, who works at the pantry, told the News-Gazette families can still pick out their own food, but only one person is allowed inside at a time and gloved and masked volunteers will hand them the food that they want. 

While Blaney said they can keep up with needs, the food bank is accepting donations and expects needs to continue to increase. 

“The impact of this on families is going to go on for a long time,” she said.