Food assistance providers see increased demand this time of the year. In Reno, one charity says it has all the food it needs... but not enough volunteers to put the food in people's hands.
St. Vincent’s Food Pantry in Downtown Reno is piled to the ceiling with food and there is a line of people waiting for it. But there’s just one volunteer hustling to pack food for them. Volunteer coordinator Jim Williams says, this time of year, volunteers can be hard to find.
“Because people have family coming into town that they will say hey, I am going to take this week off and we were kind of counting on them to be here but they are volunteers so thank gosh we have them.”
Part of the reason there are fewer food bank volunteers is that this year, St. Vincent’s hired its most dedicated volunteers to run a winter homeless shelter. The food assistance program still needs another 5-10 volunteers for this Thanksgiving week. Without them the food bank will have to close early every day.
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