Hunger grows in Henrico as pandemic wears on

(Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series about the exacerbation of food insecurity in Henrico during the COVID-19 pandemic.)

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On a recent Tuesday in February at 5:30 p.m., nearly 100 drivers in cars – Hyundais, Toyotas and even a Lexus – make a loop through the parking lot at the weekly Three Chopt Presbyterian Church Food Pantry at 9315 Three Chopt Road, one-by-one, to tell volunteer Shannon O’Leary their names and their food needs.

One after another, as the motorists pull up to the front door of the Lower Fellowship Hall, the volunteers, who are a mix of recipients, congregants and neighbors from teenagers to retirees, pull the needed items and place them on to a wheeled cart, which they push out to the recipients’ car filled with bags of produce, meat, eggs, diapers, pasta, sauce, yogurt, milk and soap to deposit in trunks. Drivers stay in their cars to maintain a distance.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Three Chopt Presbyterian would feed 24 families a week who could browse for items needed on their own displayed on shelves inside. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, food pantry coordinator Karen Cullen says the number of recipients has shot up. During one week in February, 125 cars passed through the line. The highest number has been 138. Sometimes multiple families are represented in a vehicle.

Though the recipients are not limited to the church’s 23229 ZIP code, the boom in need is remarkable, because according to U.S. Census data, the area’s median household income in 2019 was $70,000.

“We were having over 10 to 13 new families a week,” said Cullen who orders and buys food from Central Virginia foodbank Feed More, arranges for volunteers in three shifts, inputs required documentation for the Feed More system (of which Three Chopt is a part) and manages the budget. She also arranges for food drives to help stock the shelves.

To maintain the service, Cullen also collects donated food from a local Kroger supermarket and meets a box truck with foodstuffs from Feed More, which volunteers help unload. Cullen describes many of the people in cars picking up food for their families as former restaurant and service workers who have lost their jobs.

“This is all new to them. We’re in a very nice neighborhood, but 85 percent of the students at the nearby Jackson Davis Elementary School qualify for free or reduced lunch,” said Cullen. “We don’t turn anyone away.”

Often recipients start lining up at 3 p.m. The efforts fed 13,703 people during 2020.

The pantry’s relationship with Feed More allows Cullen to stretch the funds to provide families in need with meat. But not everyone can make it to the pick-up. At one point, a local fire company delivered food to a homebound person.

On that winter night as the sun sets, O’Leary, who wears a mask, struggles in Spanish to communicate with the recipients to understand and fulfill their needs, which the staff archives in a file for their records. Car after car, the drivers thank O’Leary and the other volunteers for the donations.

“I know what it’s like to struggle with grocery money,” says O’Leary, a trained pastor who brings her son along and relishes the interactions.

Neighbor Karthik Jayaram, who is not a member of the church, joined the group of volunteers when he saw the line of cars every week.

“I think about what I would do if I were in their position,” says Jayaram between moments of wheeling out a cart of food. “It’s not easy asking for help. We all need help one way or another and we’re all humans, so I’m here sharing the burden.”

Rising economic hardship
Food insecurity is a persistent crisis and is one of the issues that the pandemic has illuminated.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as "limited or uncertain access to adequate food." With the COVID-19 recession hitting the hardest for individuals in low income households, it has led millions to experience food insecurity; and the risk is even higher for households with children, thus creating a ripple effect of other issues.

The Henrico County Department of Social Services’ December 2020 report showed a 25 percent rise in the number of new applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families compared with the same month last year, with nearly 200 applicants in December 2020. The same report showed there was a 66 percent increase in Henrico residents asking for fuel assistance as compared with December 2019.

The caseload for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in Henrico as of this January totaled 15,321 households, according to Jocelyn Dale, Human Services division manager with Henrico County Social Services. Henrico’s December 2020 report showed a 40 percent increase in new SNAP applicants and an 80 percent renewal in those services as compared with the December 2019 totals.

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work Associate Professor Youngmi Kim has closely studied the dynamics of economic deprivation, notably food insecurity. Her research identifies complicated mechanisms of the “new-poor,” distinguished from the traditional income-poor, and the effects of poverty and adverse childhood experiences on the well-being of family and children.

Kim predicts 2020 Census data will show the number of people living in economic hardship rising dramatically because of the harsh financial impacts caused by COVID19. Henrico county reported about a seven percent poverty rates in 2019 which is a little lower than Richmond. In April 2020 there was a sharp rise, to a 10.9 percent unemployment rate in Henrico, which currently sits at 4.7 percent, versus 2.9 percent pre-pandemic.

“Food insecurity is definitely an indicator of poverty and limited financial resources, but it also shows a different nature of economic hardship,” said Kim. “Food insecurity is often reported when families and individuals have short-term income shocks and income volatility, such as a result of employment status change, marital status change, health problems, or absence of savings to buffer adverse economic shocks, just like COVID19. Thus, food insecurity is often reported in working poor families and even moderate-income individuals/families.”

Kim said generally economic hardship tends to hit higher-risk groups including low-income wage workers, people with unstable employment status, women with children and people of color. During COVID people experiencing food insecurity have been those facing layoffs, furloughs and the rapid economic downturns in local businesses.

“This economic fluctuation directly connects to the point of why we see many of our neighbors look for food pantries and supporting resources,” said Kim.

Fighting the invisibility of hunger
Twenty-six of Feed More’s 270 partner agencies are located in Henrico. Those 26 agencies distributed  2.3 million pounds  of food, which was the equivalent of 1.9 million meals in 2020.

Twelve of those 26 Henrico-based agencies received recent Virginia CARES grant-funding from the $1M Feed More distributed in December 2020 to continue feeding those in need. The funds helped many of those agencies get equipment like commercial freezers and refrigerators, pallet jacks, pick carts, pallets, industrial shelving, racks, tables, computers or storage to be more efficient in their operations and serve more people.

Feed More programs offered significant support to Henrico residents during 2020. Meals on Wheels served 474 homebound Henrico seniors and people with disabilities with a total of 80,000 meals annually.

The recurring Mobile Pantry Program distributed 76,760 pounds in Henrico with poundage equating to 64,000 meals.

After-school Kids’ Cafes at 20 sites distributed 59,000 suppers and 68,000 snacks prepared and delivered by Feed More. In the Summer Feeding Program, seven sites distributed 4,300 breakfasts and 5,600 lunches prepared and delivered by Feed More. A Weekend Backpack Program at 16 sites distributed 6,500 satchels that provide food for kids’ over the weekends when they’re not getting meals at school.

Feed More CEO Doug Pick says the uptick in need shown at the Three Chopt Presbyterian Church pantry demonstrates the effects of unemployment due to the pandemic affecting tens of thousands of neighbors.

“We are fighting the invisibility of hunger,” said Pick. “Food insecurity and hunger does reside in the suburbs and in the western suburbs of Henrico. You can see it in the cars at food pantries. These are the newly unemployed where previously both parents might have been working, and now with a mortgage, two car payments and minimal savings, people are having trouble.”

Another strong indication of need in the area is the number of calls Feed More receives asking where food is available. Pre-pandemic, that number was about 50 a week, but last year it increased five=fold to 250 desperate callers. Pick credits the community with generous donations to help those whose budgets fall short.

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Resources for those in needFeed More’s agency locator shows about a dozen partner food pantry’s throughout the county: https://feedmore.org/agency-network/agency-locator/: • St. Paul’s Baptist on Creighton Road • Community Mission Food Pantry, 111 Stuttaford Dr., Sandston 23150 – (804) 306-4339-cell • Living Hope Church Food Pantry, 301 W. Nine Mile Rd., Highland Springs 23075 – (804) 737-2221 • Down to Earth Ministries Pantry, 936 Hunters Run Dr., Henrico 23223 – (804) 643-0012-site • Northside Outreach Center Pantry, 3080 Meadowbridge Rd., Richmond 23222 – (804) 321-3182 • The Church of the Living God Pantry, 1 Brenton St., Henrico 23222 – (804) 553-8200 • Unity of Faith Fellowship, Int’l Food Pantry, 298 Cedar Fork Rd., Henrico 23223 – (804) 562-2623 • Living Water Christian Fellowship Pantry, 5108 Richmond Henrico Turnpike, Henrico 23227 – (804) 497-7357 • Meadowood COG Pantry, 325 Azalea Ave., Henrico 23227 – (804) 240-6313

Those who would like to volunteer may contact food pantries directly and also browse opportunities with Hands On Greater Richmond.