Bridgewater, Va. – Founded in 1981 in Staunton, VA, The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank continues to serve the approximately 1-in-12 food-insecure people living in 25 counties and 8 cities on either side of the Blue Ridge, even in the face of a pandemic.

“During COVID we partnered with several different testing facilities so if someone was suspected of having COVID we gave them food to take home so they wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store while they awaited their results in quarantine,” said BRAFB’s Partner Engagement Manager for the Shenandoah Valley Robin Swecker. 

A report from Feeding America on the impact of Coronavirus on local food insecurity projected that the number of food-insecure Americans increased from 35 million in 2019 to 45 million in 2020 — putting increased strain on food banks like BRAFB. 

“We, fortunately, had most of our partner agencies stay engaged and continued to serve. So we didn’t have the same lapse that you may have seen on TV with larger food banks,” said Swecker. “In those situations, the food banks themselves were having to do the distribution for an entire area because the individual food pantries were closed.”

According to Swecker, BRAFB is starting to return to normal pre-pandemic functioning “though most of our local pantries are still doing distribution from the parking lot in a no-touch or low-touch capacity so people are not coming into buildings to get food.”

Any students looking to get involved with BRAFB’s effort to address food insecurity can do so through the organization’s volunteer hub or by working with Brigewater’s Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega. 

“APO has done a couple of fundraisers this semester, one specifically with Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, and we have one going on right now with Mercy House to bring canned foods for Thanksgiving to homeless people in the Harrisonburg area,” said junior and Vice President of Relations for APO Lauren Kronzer.