Mobile food pantry feeds needy families in Northeast Wilmington

Hundreds of Wilmington residents lined up outside of New Destiny Fellowship in Northeast Wilmington to receive a free meal box this morning. Among the crowd was Fontella Hamilton who sees this donation as much more than a two-week supply of food.

 

Hundreds of Wilmington residents lined up outside of New Destiny Fellowship in Northeast Wilmington to receive a free meal box this morning. Among the crowd was Fontella Hamilton who sees this donation as much more than a two-week supply of food.

“I’m a diabetic so I really need this,” Hamilton said, “Things have been a little tight financially, but this will keep me going.”

 

Hamilton wasn’t the only meal recipient desperate for today’s donation. Nearly 30 minutes after the pantry’s opening at 11 o’clock this morning, 190 of the 250 available boxes had already been given out to pre-registered families in need.

The Food Bank of Delaware hosted today’s event in partnership with Lutheran Community Services and New Destiny Fellowship in Wilmington. Through the mobile pantry program, a Food Bank truck was sent directly to the underserved area of Northeast Wilmington to distribute a variety of canned goods and produce for local families.

Kim Kostes with the Food Bank of Delaware says each thirty pound box contains enough food to feed a family of four for several days. The boxes are stocked with cereal, tuna, rice, spaghetti, tomato sauce, canned vegetables and canned fruits. Meal recipients were also given beverages, snacks and fresh produce in addition their single meal box.

“It’s such a helping hand for people when there are energy bills that need to be paid, car payments, insurance, healthcare,” Kostes says, “So every little bit really helps our neighborhoods in need”

Lutheran Community Services provides emergency food assistance to low-income individuals at 11 different sites in Delaware each year. Executive Director Jean Warren says the organization is seeing a greater number of first-time families in need of food. “We’ve been overwhelmed to the point that we had to turn people away this year” Warren says.

That increased need is being felt statewide.

The Food Bank of Delaware says most of its agencies are experiencing a 30% increase in demand, with some organizations seeing numbers triple in certain areas.

The Food Bank’s mobile pantry program is funded through federal stimulus dollars and donations from the Delaware Does More initiative, the statewide effort to collect one million pounds of fresh produce, rescued foods and nonperishable goods along with $150,000 for shelter and utility assistance for Delawareans.

For more information on the Food Bank’s mobile pantry program, call (302) 292-1305

Lutheran Community Services hosts two mobile food pantries in Delaware each month. To find out where the next LCS food pantry will be, log onto www.lcsde.org.