VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — It's a basic life need but in the last year, food has become very expensive, so much so that some families might not be able to afford to even step into a grocery store. On Tuesday, a foodbank held a distribution event in Virginia Beach.
Since 2020, the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore has held food drive distributions. This week, volunteers said they had the largest turnout.
By the end of the drive, 2,154 households drove up and drove off with meals. The foodbank's last drive supported around 1,700.
Foodbank CEO Christopher Tan said the numbers speak for themselves.
"During the drive, I spent about an hour and a half doing intakes in the line. I would say 75 percent of those people coming into the line were brand new to the foodbank," said Tan.
With donations down and the cost of food up, the foodbank said it, too, has felt the impact.
"The cost of food has gone up about 14% in the last 60 days. We absolutely have been struggling, but at the same time we know that our neighbors in need are struggling," added Tan.
Drivers like Lorne Turner said with the current economy, it's likely that the need is more widespread than people think.
"There's a lot of people that you would never think are going through things that are going through things," Turner said. "Until you've gotten to the point where things have gotten tight for you you really don't have a deep enough understanding of it."
While many have been forced to budget their shopping list, Turner said the current economy has taken away some financial freedom. That being said, the food drives have done a good job of trying to give some of it back.
"Events like these are like God's gift to the world and makes things so much better for a lot of people," said Turner.
In a few weeks, volunteers with the foodbank are going to be gearing up for a long couple of days during the Mayflower Marathon, a 57-hour food drive even. To learn how you can participate, click or tap here.
