Kentucky Power and its partners recently hosted Power Up the Pantry, a day-long food drive held at three locations in eastern Kentucky.
On Aug. 25, Kentucky Power, in partnership with WYMT and God’s Pantry Food Bank, hosted the Power Up the Pantry event, collecting food and monetary donations for several local families.
During Power Up the Pantry, a day-long food drive held at three locations in eastern Kentucky, area businesses and individuals were encouraged to drop off donations throughout the day to help replenish area food bank supplies. Donations collected during the event will benefit God’s Pantry Food Bank, which serves food pantries in Hazard, Pikeville and Prestonsburg – the eastern Kentucky areas which recently suffered devastating flooding; and Facing Hunger Food Bank, which serves food pantries in northeast Kentucky, including the greater Ashland area and surrounding counties. In Perry County, the donations were distributed to the New Hope Food Pantry.
Michael Halligan, CEO of God's Pantry Food Bank, said this is the third year of holding this event, and following the July flooding, it is vitally important for the community right now.
“It's important for a number of reasons right now. We are seeing food insecurity and hunger grow,” said Halligan. “A lot of that has to do with the high rate of inflation. The cost for all of us to live has gotten more expensive and you put on top of that a catastrophic flood, one that hasn't happened for a thousand years, and many people, many individuals, are one catastrophic event away from hunger.”
This, said Halligan, could be a loss of job, unexpected medical costs, or more.
“There are all kinds of reasons why someone might fall into food insecurity and start experiencing hunger so right now is a particularly important and poignant time for AEP KY Power to be doing Power Up the Pantry,” said Halligan.
Throughout the past couple of years, many people received additional help, said Halligan. All of those programs, he said, have ended or slowed down and people are feeling the effects, especially when combined with recent challenges.
“During the second half of the pandemic all of us benefited from the stimulus checks, from the child tax credit, from the maximum allotment of SNAP benefits due to the health pandemic,” said Halligan. “At the same time we've seen incredibly high inflation and those factors have caused demand on emergency food assistance to rise by some 20 percent.”
Although many food banks and pantries have seen a greater need for assistance this year, Halligan said donations from individuals have not declined at all and have actually increased.
“The passion and compassion that I see in people is unchanged because of the circumstances around us. One of the things that is so wonderful about central and eastern Kentucky, about Perry County, is how much we care for one another,” said Halligan. “What we have seen changed is because of a tighter supply chain it's more difficult to gather food from manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers. Even the USDA is struggling right now to fully supply the food that comes through the commodity programs. So we've seen a tighter supply chain but we have not seen any changes with individual givers, and again, it's actually gone up.”
Donations were given to the New Hope Food Pantry to be distributed to local families in need. Kentucky Power and its partners said they are thankful for the community's support during the event.
