A regional food bank officer discussed methods in which food insecurity issues can be managed in Mingo County during a workshop held on Aug. 2 in Williamson.
Facing Hunger Foodbank CEO Cynthia Kirkhart discussed her organization and its plans to expand even more into Mingo County during a two-hour discussion with a small group of stakeholders at Williamson First Baptist Church.
The meeting was organized and hosted by Donna Paterino with the Widow's Mite Food Pantry.
“Mingo County is very important to me,” Kirkhart said, whose family is from neighboring Logan County. “I have gotten to know a lot of people in Mingo County. I know your struggles. We do not do enough for Mingo County.”
As part of Facing Hunger’s commitment to the local area, Kirkhart told attendees that the Huntington-based food bank plans to open a food warehouse and distribution center in Mingo County by the end of the year.
One possible location is the warehouse on U.S. 52 in Maher that formerly housed Shepherd of the Hills and previously served as a warehouse for B and L Furniture.
She said the distribution center would also provide approximately seven to 10 new jobs in the county as well as being a local center for food pantries to obtain food.
Kirkhart and the people attending discussed various challenges in Mingo County ranging from food insecurity to community resources to infrastructure needs to current economic conditions and inflation rates.
“People are having to make hard decisions,” Kirkhart said. “They are having to decide whether to buy fuel or food.”
Kirkhart said that other factors are presenting hardships as well: Healthy foods come at higher price tags than many convenience foods, which impacts a family’s budget. “Grandfamilies” (families in which grandparents are raising grandchildren) are often not formal arrangements which means elderly residents who are already on fixed incomes are seeing higher food costs without any additional benefits.
She also said the rising cost of food and the decreasing availability of food is also presenting obstacles to both families trying to make ends meet as well as food banks and food pantries which are trying to help deter food insecurities.
Kirkhart said the Facing Hunger Foodbank services 12 counties in southern West Virginia, four in Kentucky and one county in Ohio. The organization has distributed 9.7 million pounds of food so far in 2022.
Among its services, Facing Hunger offers commodity supplemental food programs, medically indicated food boxes, community agriculture support, emergency food assistance, summer food service, mobile food pantries and a backpack program.
