ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Many families in our hometowns are struggling to put food on the table. In Roanoke City, over 20% of our children do not have enough to eat. This is double the national average.
Pantries work hard to meet needs, but they also work hard to meet needs.
This includes giving neighbors healthier food choices.
Reginald Banks is next for a fresh take on what it means to lend a hand.
” Hello how are you ? he told the Roanoke’s volunteers Community Solutions Center.
Banks is shopping. But here he does not have to spend a penny.
“Let me have one,” he said, pulling out a bundle of sprouts from the refrigerated section.
It’s the pantry of healthy choices.
“[I] I think what I just learned is that everyone needs the same way of thinking,” said Healthy Pantry Coordinator Kevin Wood.
He leads a team of volunteers who open the pantry to the community twice a week. Unlike the traditional pantry format where guests are given a predetermined box of food, visitors here have a choice of what they take home.
Fresh produce, meat and dairy products are always available.
“It doesn’t matter if people get other kinds of government benefits,” Wood said. “For example, everyone has different needs, and we want to be flexible and be able to handle everyone.”
Banks said he’s not currently working and was there to see if he could get a little help. Total Action for Progress in Roanoke referred him to both the Community Solutions Center pantry and its network of resources to help him find a new job.
“It’s a good thing for the neighborhood, if you need that helping hand – which everyone does from time to time – to come and do that,” he said.
The Health Choice food pantry opened in November, just in time to support the additional 20% of people needing help after SNAP emergency benefits ended in February.
“And we’re seeing between January and March of this year about a 10% to 15% increase in the number of neighbors coming to use our services here,” said Allison McGee, Feeding Southwest Virginia Director of Strategy.
She says that as the network sees an increase in need, it is working to provide foods with less sodium, sugar and fat.
“If you talk to neighbors, neighbors will tell you they want healthier food,” McGee said.
Since its opening, the healthy food pantry has served more than 1,300 people. On an average open house they will support over 27 households.
“We also see a lot less trash because when neighbors select what they want, they can take home the items they choose,” McGee explained, “compared to if you’re handed a box, and you can not [eat] or if we don’t want some of these items, we sometimes see them outside or thrown away.
Feed Southwest Virginia is working statewide to support more pantries with this model.
“So really changing our focus on what determines health and providing funding and deepening our emphasis in those areas can really have a big impact on the health of populations in general,” said Meaghan Butler, director of equity in health matters for the Virginia Federation of Food Banks.
She said the pandemic has highlighted known shortcomings in the healthcare system and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Virginia’s seven food banks have come together for an overhaul of the health equity approach.
“In practice, it’s like getting referrals from healthcare partners, so people are connected to food resources sooner when they need them,” she explained. “It also appears that food banks are intentionally sourcing and distributing healthier foods, in fact using tools to rank the nutritional quality of foods to ensure they have a good variety of healthy food options. . It also feels like supporting our network of 1000+ food pantries with tools and resources so they can better support the health of our neighbors who are facing hunger.
For the program to succeed, McGee says Feeding Southwest Virginia could use more greenery on the shelves and in the bank.
“Well, we can always use more money,” she laughed.
Donations continue to be a great need and volunteers are essential.
“And it’s, you know, it’s like building some kind of relationship there,” Wood explained. “It’s not fair, you know, like handing out a box through a window, and it’s not transactional. So I think it’s like, kind of, how this space can be a source of community, and not just as a, you know, a program.
The federation hopes to take the model in Roanoke and expand it across the Commonwealth over the next three years, giving Virginia neighbors more agency in how they feed their families.
“And that’s one of the biggest benefits of this pantry is that it gives our neighbors the dignity to come in and have a choice and choose what they want for their family. “McGee said.
Banks says that while looking for his next job, he appreciates the helping hand.
“It was good, it was good,” he said, walking to his car with two full grocery bags. “You can get what you need quickly and they help you with the vitamins. I’ll be back.”
To use the Healthy Choices Pantry, you can visit the Community Solutions Center at 2328 Melrose Ave NW.
It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon.
There are currently no qualifications.
Customers can fill two grocery bags to take home.
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