{"id":4222,"date":"2021-12-21T20:41:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T20:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/?p=4222"},"modified":"2022-01-17T20:46:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T20:46:24","slug":"backstage-at-the-food-pantry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/21\/backstage-at-the-food-pantry\/","title":{"rendered":"Backstage at the Food Pantry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Jonathan Toms, community development manager for Smithfield Foods, hands a spiral ham to Michael McKee, CEO for Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, the first links in a human chain unloading donated hams at the food bank warehouse in Verona on Dec. 21.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Story and photos by Mike Tripp, contributor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group gathered on the loading dock in the back of the warehouse at Blue Ridge Area Food Bank\u2019s headquarters in Verona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them were representatives of the food bank, along with Smithfield Foods and University of Virginia Athletics Department, there to celebrate Smithfield\u2019s large donation of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Virginia company made a combined donation of 80,000 pounds of protein, in the form of spiral hams, split between the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and Feeding Southwest Virginia. The two food banks serve communities surrounding the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, and Smithfield is the presenting sponsor of the \u201cCommonwealth Clash\u201d rivalry games between the schools in all sports for the 2021-2025 seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Donated spiral hams fill a barrel container at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank\u2019s share of this week\u2019s donation translates to 40,000 pounds of protein for families throughout its coverage area of 25 counties and 8 cities on either side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jimmy Deyo, lead warehouse assistant, logs information on an arrival of donated food at Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Verona. Deyo says he is thankful their organization is able to provide for those in need within the community.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\u201cI like knowing families are going to have good meals through the holidays, said Greg Knight, food sourcing manager at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. \u201cEspecially after the last couple of years.\u201d<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Greta Vandevander sorts items at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is crucial, now more than ever, to help our neighbors experiencing hunger following a year-and-a-half of hardships, and we\u2019re honored to have the opportunity to bring \u2018rivalry\u2019 communities together as one to help fight food insecurity during the Commonwealth Clash week,\u201d said Jonathan Toms, community development manager for Smithfield Foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProtein-rich foods are essential in our fight against nutrition insecurity, so we couldn\u2019t be more thrilled for this wonderful donation of Smithfield products,\u201d said Michael McKee, CEO for Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. \u201cHunger relief partnerships like this allow us to amplify our impact across central and western Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Andy Gilmer, warehouse assistant, scans a list of items to retrieve in the warehouse. \u201cBest job I\u2019ve ever had, and I\u2019m 52 years old,\u201d said Gilmer. \u201cThe\u00a0people we help and the mission?\u00a0\u2026\u00a0It\u2019s great!\u201d\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When the crowd disappeared, the warehouse workers reappeared to begin the real work of unloading the hams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One by one, a forklift pulled the pallets into the warehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily routines resumed among the warehouse staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pallets of the hams were weighed and staged while milk from another delivery went from another trailer into cold storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A large pallet sized box filled with donated food items.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Donations from a Boy Scout\u2019s food drive were sorted as another worker items picked for \u201cThe Pantry\u201d at James Madison University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their last fiscal year between June 2020-July 2021, an average of 118,300 people were served each month through the Food Bank, its pantry network and supporters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Headquartered in Verona, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank serves 25 counties and 8 cities on either side of the Blue Ridge, with distribution centers in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, and Winchester.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County alone, the food bank works with groups including Patchwork Pantry, Emmanuel Episcopal Food Pantry, Harrisonburg Senior Center \u2013 Valley Program for Aging Services, The Pantry at JMU, Salvation Army \u2013 Harrisonburg, Hope Distributed CDC, Lacey Springs Community Food Pantry at  Grace Mennonite Fellowship, Broadway Outreach Food Pantry, Elkton Area United Service, the Timberville Mobile Food Pantry and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story and photos by Mike Tripp, contributor The group gathered on the loading dock in the back of the warehouse at Blue Ridge Area Food Bank\u2019s headquarters in Verona.  Among them were representatives of the food bank, along with Smithfield Foods and University of Virginia Athletics Department, there to celebrate Smithfield\u2019s large donation of food. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-the-citizen","category-freelance-stories"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/f8explorer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/FOOD-BANK-004-1228x819-1.jpg?fit=1228%2C819&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4235,"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222\/revisions\/4235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f8explorer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}