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Farm Fresh closures impact local food bank
With the shuttering of most Farm Fresh grocery stores, the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank has lost its third-largest donor.
HAMPTON, Va. (WVEC) — The impact from the closing of Farm Fresh grocery stores continues to hit more than just customers.
The Virginia Peninsula Foodbank is one organization that is affected, now losing its third largest donor.
Stocking up the has always been a community effort from citizens to businesses. Together, both give out about 10 million meals a year.
“We want them to be able to find resources, and we want to be that resource,” said Karen Joyner, the foodbank CEO.
However, with more than 20 Farm Fresh stores closing its door, that leaves the foodbank now to fill a big void from one of its largest donors.
Farm Fresh is the third largest provider to the foodbank. Every year, it donates about 1 million pounds of food. If you convert that into meals, that’s about 834,000 meals.
“It’s hard losing your third biggest donor without being able to replace them,” said Joyner.
She has seen how summers work, and the closures come at a time when donations are badly needed.
“When schools are out, children are out of school. Children are not getting the free or reduced lunches and breakfasts, and they may not be getting any meals at all,” she said.
In most homes, she guesses grocery bills triple for an average household, making donations something people rely on.
Now that Farm Fresh is out of the picture, she hopes other donors can help the community the foodbank serves.
“We can distribute four meals for every dollar donated so we prefer people make monetary donations over bags of food,” she said.
Click here to make a donation.