Local shelter donations the lowest in 25 years

The Good Shepherd Center in Wilmington serves hundreds of meals a day to the homeless and needy. This holiday season the shelter has seen the least amount of donations in 25 years.

Verna Mansfield, an administrator with Good Shepherd Center in Wilmington said the center serves 3 full meals a day to hundreds of people. They can go through 50 cans while preparing just one meal.

“Right now is not generally a time where we find ourselves short of food,” said Mansfield. “But when you serve 400 meals a day it can wipe it out very quickly.”

The downturn in the economy could be the reason people are not donating. Mansfield said typically folks tend to cut back on donations during the summer months because of vacations and kids being out of school. It is around the holiday season they count on organizations, businesses and people to beef up their food donations.

Mansfield said if donations were to stop today, they would only have 4 to 5 days left of food for the less fortunate. “Now is the time where people are thinking, people are hungry. It’s Thanksgiving. Christmas is coming up, but right now we are seeing a shortage that is not typical for us,” she said.

Officials from Good Shepherd Ministries said this is the lowest amount of food that they have seen in 25 years, yet they are still optimistic the community will donate.

“Just that we have to start taking steps to let people know that we are in a shortage and once they find that out we usually can depend on them to come through for us,” added Mansfield.

Good Shepherd has served hot meals to the homeless since 1983. Administrators hope people will continue to donate, so those less fortunate are not left out in the cold.

The Good Shepherd Center is located at 811 Martin Street in Wilmington, if you would like to donate. You can also call 910-763-4424