Mat-Su Food Bank keeping up with food demand amid COVID-19 social distancing

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Food Bank is keeping up with the overall demand for food, supporting individuals and families while aiding their community partners to feed people across the Valley.

“The main thing is, we want to feed people,” Mat-Su Food Bank Executive Director Eddie Ezelle said.

The Mat-Su Food Bank saw a major surge in demand for food assistance last month but this month seems to be more tapered off, according to Ezelle. Currently, they’re seeing about 90 to 100 people a day.

“Which is about normal,” Ezelle said.

Those picking up food at the Mat-Su Food Bank can still pick out their own items. They’re only accepting two clients inside the pantry at a time. Ezelle said they’re also asking people to wear masks and so far, the reception has been good.

“That seems to be going pretty smooth,” Most people are pretty understanding,” Ezelle said.

Ezelle said they’re still receiving food and monetary donations and that was encouraging.

“We’re just blazing along trying to keep up with things,” Ezelle said.

While overall demand may be lower than the previous month, Ezelle said that he anticipates another increase as more time goes by with so many people out of work.

Food banks across the country are receiving additional food through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) because of the coronavirus. Ezelle said the emergency food assistance helps those who’ve been out of work or lost hours get back on their feet.

“The government’s right here with us which is good,” Ezelle said.

Ezelle said they’ve been receiving a lot of food from the government in addition to local donations. He said they’re still working on expanding their warehouse space and finding a new food truck.

“Which is great, there’s just a lot of stuff in there,” Ezelle said. “They’ve got quite a selection of stuff in there.”

The Food Bank of Alaska is also keeping up with the huge demand for food, according to the Director of Public Engagement, Cara Durr.

“We had quite a bit of food on hand when the crisis hit,” Durr said.

Durr said they’ve seen an estimated 75 percent increase for food demand in Anchorage alone.

“Which is pretty staggering,” Durr said.

The Food Bank of Alaska serves communities across the state. Durr said they’ve been able to keep up with the demand with a steady supply of food, totaling about six weeks worth on hand with more on the way.

Thanks to large amounts of trade mitigation food received this year, the Food Bank of Alaska is prepared to meet the immediate need without disruption.

“We are so thankful to our state agencies, who have done an amazing job of responding to this crisis by quickly pursuing programmatic flexibilities in order to serve more people,” Durr said.

Durr said they support about 20 partnering agencies across the Valley. She said communities like Talkeetna rely heavily on tourism so they’re going to get hit hard this summer.

“We know this is going to be a long recovery,” Durr said. ‘“We encourage people to donate to their local food pantries or Food Bank of Alaska… or see if you can volunteer at local pantry.”

Ezelle said they have a good relationship with the Food Bank of Alaska.

wHe said they don’t normally pick up food from them so the smaller agencies like the Talkeetna Food Bank can receive more.

He said the Mat-Su Food Bank has shared about 115,000 pounds to local pantries since the start of 2020. He said the Valley is spread out so it’s very important for the various groups and agencies to work together.

“It just helps them feed more people, spread it around the Valley,” Ezelle said.

The Mat-Su Food Bank is currently opening 15 minutes early for elderly and disabled people.

Right now they’re open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“That’s working pretty good. We’re trying to stay open 5 days a week,” Ezelle said.

The Ma-Su Food Bank is gearing up for their summer food assistance program Food 4 Kids. People can support their ongoing efforts by donating food or going online to make a monetary donation.

“Anything they can help us with we greatly appreciate,” Ezelle said.

Alaska’s public health emergency has impacted people across the state in unprecedented ways and many of them are looking at more time out of work.

The State of Alaska made changes to both the eligibility requirements and to the process of submitting and processing applications to SNAP, the statewide food assistance program as a response to the coronavirus crisis.

The Food Bank of Alaska has a designated outreach team ready to help people apply for SNAP. People can call 907-222-3119 or email snap@foodbankofalaska.org. They can also text, “SNAP” to 907-891-8913.

“We know a lot of people are eligible to apply for SNAP,” Durr said.

The Mat-Su Food Bank is located at 501 East Bogard Road within the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. For more information call 907-357-3769 or visit matsufoodbank.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com