Food bank sees upswing in need due to outbreak, closures


by Jackie Nunnery

Blake Kleinschmidt  and Ashlyn Gough sort through food donations at the Healthy Harvest Food Bank warehouse in Warsaw.

WARSAW—With the closing of non-essential businesses in Virginia due to the COVID-19 outbreak, many area residents are starting to feel the financial pinch due to lost paychecks. Putting nutritious food on the table has become a challenge and that is where the Healthy Harvest Food Bank (HHFB) steps in to help.

“We used to get three to five calls a day. We had 12 calls just this morning,” said president and chief executive officer Mark Kleinschmidt. Along with the fourfold increase in the number of phone calls, they have seen a 60% increase in traffic to their website and a doubling of traffic to their Facebook page.

Despite the increase in interest and need, which is expected to grow even more, Kleinschmidt said they are still able to offer…[to-view-more]