The COVID-19 crisis is among the most significant challenges faced by our country in recent history. Feeding America and its national network of food banks emerged as leaders in helping the millions of people made food insecure by the pandemic. The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri is among them.
Many local families are still struggling with newfound hardships, causing an increase in the number of people using our services for the first time. So far, our service area has been fortunate to avoid the same drastic rise in need other parts of the country have experienced. The Food Bank dedicates itself to helping them while facing new challenges of its own. A significant reduction in food donations and national strains to the supply of shelf-stable food have made it more expensive and difficult to obtain food to distribute.
To ensure our hunger-relief mission continues, we've created new ways to distribute food to keep people safe. Our 140 partner agencies are following The Food Bank recommendations to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Central Pantry continues to serve thousands every month in Boone County by using a contact-less, drive-thru model.
The Food Bank kept distributing Buddy Packs after schools closed, getting food for the weekend into students' hands by working with school districts across our service area. This summer we provided more than 2,000 Buddy Packs weekly to children in Boone, Cole and Callaway counties.
We've also kept our Mobile Pantries running with contact-less distribution methods to continue to serve people in areas with poor access to food assistance. To help further, we added a new, temporary service called Fresh Mobiles that has provided over 100,000 pounds of fresh and refrigerated items.
Our donors and community have made it possible for The Food Bank to continue its work through an outpour of support. As we face the uncertain future of the crisis, that support must stay steady so we can share food and bring hope to all who need it.