File photo
File photo
The economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic has caused thousands of Texans to visit food banks for sustenance.
Donna Furlong and her husband relied on the food pantry some 20 minutes from their rural East Texas home until it closed last month. The couple had no choice but to do the unthinkable: take turns eating.
Donna would eat one day, taking a few days off so her husband could. She and her husband, who are both disabled and on food stamps, fear the worst as they try to fast.
"If something happens and the food stamps don’t come in then we’re really gonna be lost,” Donna tearfully told the Houston Chronicle.
The Furlongs are not alone in wondering when they would have their next meal. Among the more than 20 million Americans who are unemployed, many lost jobs because of the coronavirus.
Eric Cooper is the CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank. He told NPR that his organization experienced a 100% jump in clients and is struggling to keep pace with the demand brought on by the pandemic.
The parking lot at the San Antonio Food Bank swelled with thousands of vehicles with families seeking food assistance. NPR reported that the food bank is now feeding double the number of people it would feed in a normal week.
Cooper admitted to panicking at the long lines.
“So I called our warehouse to send more trucks, to get more food on site,” he said. “But we, in the end, served 10,000 families.”
About 300 miles away to the east, Southeast Texas Food Bank president David Maher is looking for ways to stock his resources. It was a problem the food bank, which serves Jasper and much of East Texas, was trying to solve even before the outbreak.
“We’re constantly looking for resources,” Maher told the Chronicle.
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