SAN ANGELO, Texas — With many people now able to return to work as many businesses around the Concho Valley reopen, they can provide meals for their families.
However, the Concho Valley Regional Food Bank continues to serve people affected by COVID-19 in the community, and is making sure it is a beacon of light for people in need.
"A lot of people out there that were affected almost at the same time due to the oil industry and, some of those folks still aren't going back to work," Concho Valley Regional Food Bank Executive Director Lee Pipkin said.
Over the weekend, the food bank was able to host a food drive and help the San Angelo community.
Now, the food is going to expand to the 13 counties the food bank serves to make sure people who are still looking for work have a meal to eat with a project it is calling its “road show.”
"We're reaching out, Brady, Eden, Robert Lee and Big Lake, the 13 counties that we cover," CVRFB Director of Communications Julia Holt said. "We wanted to be able to hit with an open public distribution."
The food bank is continuing its backpack service. Every Friday, the food bank works with schools to distribute bags of non-perishable food items for students to take home.
With new projects, as well as continuing projects, the nonprofit organization has seen its struggles in obtaining food. The process has been slowed down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"So the industries had a hard time trying to keep up and to restock and refill the pipeline," Pipkin said. "We can order food, but sometimes is four to six weeks out for delivery because there still are still four to six weeks."
The food bank is still looking for volunteers, but have not seen more people coming to help, and it is always accepting donations to continue to help the Concho Valley.