Missouri's six regional food banks are to receive portions of $5 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding.
Gov. Mike Parson announced Wednesday that funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding would be divided among the food banks to help with food assistance for residents.
The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri, which is based in Columbia and serves 32 counties, including Cole, is to receive $708,263.
The money will go a long way toward feeding hungry people in Missouri, said Seth Wolfmeyer, the local food bank's communications and marketing manager.
"We work through Feeding America. One dollar can purchase around 10 meals worth of food," Wolfmeyer said.
Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. It works through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries, providing meals to more than 40 million people annually.
"This is a substantial amount, allowing us to purchase food and get it into the communities," Wolfmeyer said.
Other recipients of the CARES Act funds announced Wednesday are:
- Harvesters Community Food Network, $990,413.
- Ozarks Food Harvest, $925,073.
- Second Harvest Community Food Bank, $359,288.
- Southeast Missouri Food Bank, $504,818.
- St. Louis Area Foodbank, $1,462,145.
- Columbia-based Feeding Missouri, a coalition of the food banks, is to receive $50,000 for training, technical assistance and reporting.
The food banks supply products for more than 1,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and other meal sites across the state.
Protecting the health of Missourians is a part of the Show Me Recovery Plan, Parson said in a news release.
The additional funding will continue access to good nutrition for vulnerable residents of the state during the pandemic.
The pandemic's effects on the food banks have "been profound," Feeding Missouri Executive Director Scott Baker said in the news release.
Food is becoming more expensive and harder to acquire, he said. That, accompanied with fewer people being available to help distribute it, makes it more difficult for struggling families to receive.
"COVID-19 has added new challenges," Wolfmeyer said. "The supply of food is more chaotic. It's not as easy to get guaranteed delivery on certain dates."
The pandemic has caused the market to flip-flop, he continued. Food banks had over the past couple of years focused on getting more fresh fruits and vegetables into hungry people's hands. But COVID-19-related programs have taken food directly from farms to tables, which helps.
Now there is a shortage of shelf-stable goods, Wolfmeyer said.
"The items that are really hard to purchase right now are those shelf-stable goods," he said. "It's a reverse of what was typical in the past."