Photo By Master Sgt. David Eichaker | Soldiers from the 1433rd Engineer Company (SAPPER), 507th Engineer Battalion, 177th...... read more read more
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Comstock Park, Mich.-Food banks play a vital role within our communities with keeping food on the tables of families in need. During the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, this has put extra strain on may community food banks. Feeding America West Michigan food bank is one of those organizations needing assistance as it serves 40 of Michigan's 83 counties. The food bank typically uses volunteers to fill food orders, but due to the pandemic, most were asked to stay home.
"We're not accepting volunteers at this time due to their safety," said Francesca Almonte, reclamation coordinator, Feeding America West Michigan food bank. "The demographics of our volunteers are between the ages of 65-75 and to have them here is putting them at risk."
"We would rather have the National Guard come in here and help us take care of things in the warehouse such as repacking food items, helping with our picking team, or on our mobile pantries to help distribute food," she said.
During this response, the food bank has seen a surge in food orders and the Michigan Guard response has exceeded expectations.
"On the first day, the Guard members worked about 27 man-hours and produced about 60,000 pounds of product, which was sent back out to the community," said Almonte. "The work the National Guard is doing here is being put on plates the next day and the need is being met almost immediately."
"Our orders have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled so the National Guard coming in has been a huge help," she said.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the food bank has seen a significant increase in orders that would normally be overbearing for a food bank.
"With the amount of people being out of work right now, the food bank has seen an increase of volume and are doing two to three times as much than they normally do with less than half of the volunteers they normally have," said 2nd Lt. Hunter Davidson, platoon leader, 1433rd Engineer Company (SAPPER), 507th Engineer Battalion, 177th Military Police Brigade, Michigan Army National Guard. "We've been asked to come out here and help fill those gaps and do our best to help keep the food bank as prepared as possible."
Putting together food boxes requires a team to come together and that is exactly what the Michigan National Guard has done.
"A lot of other food pantries are closed so we are preparing emergency food boxes so that families that normally receive food from the food bank can still get them," said Davidson. "In just a couple of hours, we filled just over 130 food boxes, around 4000 pounds of potatoes, 1200 pounds of pop tarts, and prepared close to 60,000 pounds of food orders for vendors along with washing and sanitizing about 600 bottles of juice for the food boxes."
"Our group of Soldiers are also packing potatoes and putting together 25 pound food boxes that will be distributed to families," he said.
One unique role of the National Guard is its members serve in the communities they live in.
"It feels really good for me to be here helping the civilian population-this is what most of us signed up for when we joined the National Guard," said Davidson. "We wanted to be able to give back directly to our communities and am proud to be here to help put these food boxes together so they can get to where they are needed."
Others echoed the support received from the Michigan National Guard.
"I feel grateful because I have been in this position for three years and you build a relationship in a family with everyone around here including our volunteers who punch out 300,000 pounds a month of product," said Almonte. "To have the National Guard here and pushing out numbers that are just incredible-numbers I have never seen here before."
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2020 07:21 |
| Story ID: | 366403 |
| Location: | COMSTOCK PARK, MI, US |
| Web Views: | 165 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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