Food banks adapt to pandemic-related issues: ‘It’s been quite a roller coaster’ | Business

MOUNT PLEASANT — Food banks have revamped how they distribute free food since the COVID-19 pandemic greatly increased the number of people in need.

At a time when nearly 50 percent of people visiting food banks were doing so for the first time in their lives, COVID-19 forced organizations like East Cooper Community Outreach to reevaluate their processes and sharpen their swords, said Kathleen Forbes, director of programs.

Prior to the pandemic, ECCO’s wellness pantry clients could expect to spend hours waiting to get food. Now, they can log in to a website, choose the groceries they want and schedule a time to pick them up. It makes Mount Pleasant-based ECCO the first online client-choice pantry in South Carolina, Forbes said. 

Larger food providers like the Lowcountry Food Bank and the Upstate’s Harvest Hope also moved to drive-thru distributions during the pandemic — “It’s been quite a roller coaster,” said Mia Thomas, Harvest Hope’s director of advocacy and marketing. 

However, ECCO’s drive-thru is the only model that allows clients to choose their own food.

“There are so many things when people are financially stressed — they don’t have a lot of choice,” Forbes said. “Being able to provide that choice is empowering to them.”

ECCO provides comprehensive help to people who live east of the Cooper River and limited services to people in the tri-county area. While food is its No. 1 priority, its services include clothing, medical, dental and financial help and focus on “the whole person,” Forbes said.

Smart Choice is the website that qualifying residents can log in to each month. Each client gets a certain number of points, depending on the size of the household, to spend on groceries and personal items that food stamps might not cover, such as toilet paper, diapers, feminine products or laundry detergent.

“It’s a real, in time, way that our clients can order food,” Forbes said.

Volunteers like Beverly Genez and Victor Genez, who have volunteered and donated to ECCO for the past decade, then pack orders so they’re ready for pickup.

The Genezes enjoy volunteering because of the personal relationships they make and being able to volunteer as a couple. The same is true for Kenneth Albert and Debra Albert, who have volunteered at the Lowcountry Food Bank for more than two years.

“Sometimes it’s hard to go home and then go out to dinner,” Kenneth Albert said. “You go to any restaurant downtown and you’re like, ‘Wow. We just had to stuff rice and spaghetti noodles in a box.’ … It’s like (a reminder of) how fortunate we really are.”

And COVID-19 was also a reminder of how important it is to consume nutritious meals, Thomas said. 

“We’re really being more strategic of the food that we put out there,” Thomas said. “We don’t just want to feed our neighbors — we want to feed them well. We’re putting more of a focus on nutrition.”

As part of this, food banks want to partner with as many local farmers as possible to get Certified SC produce into the hands of the community, Thomas said.

ECCO partners with a local food market monthly as another way to get healthy food into the hands of its clients. This is important, since at least 20 percent of food that ECCO supplies is fresh fruits and vegetables, as part of its wellness pantry status.

Not only were food banks and food pantries able to respond to their clients’ needs by hosting drive-thru distributions and focusing on giving healthy food, but the pandemic also drew attention to food insecurity, Thomas said.

“The pandemic really shed a light on the root causes of hunger, whether that be wages, transportation, access to broadband internet, things like that, that are affecting our neighbors,” Thomas said.

Both Harvest Hope and the Lowcountry Food Bank are working to add team members and better strategize how to feed anyone in need.

“I think we often say that our lives are incredibly complicated,” CEO of Lowcountry Food Bank Nick Osborne said. “The reality is, our lives are really simple. … But if you’re someone that is food insecure and is hungry, your life is incredibly complicated because you are juggling multiple different balls in the air at one time.”

To find or donate food resources, go to lowcountryfoodbank.org (Lowcountry Food Bank), eccocharleston.org (East Cooper Community Outreach) or harvesthope.org (Harvest Hope).