Food bank offers disaster relief boxes for storm victims

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Many have been displaced from their homes and out of their regular routine after the damage Hurricane Matthew left behind. For some, it’s even been hard to find a meal.

“We expect that the worst is yet to come for some communities,” Wilmington Food Bank Branch Director Beth Gaglione said.

Many are hard at work at the Wilmington food bank collecting and packing boxes of food for those impacted from Hurricane Matthew.

“We do feel like we still are at a very heighten stage because now is the time people need help,” Gaglione said.

She says as people begin to repair their homes, some will fall short on food. That’s why the food bank is working with partnering organizations to get the food to people in need. But the only way that can happen is through community donations.

“We have had companies like GE and churches like Port City Community church that have had very large food drives which water and food donations and that has helped a great deal,” Gaglione said.

Another way you can help is through their virtual food drive. Gaglione says giving a monetary donation will go just as far.

If you donate just one dollar, the food bank is able to provide five meals to storm victims.

Gaglione says they are in need of dry goods like cereals, pasta, canned fruit and vegetables, nutritional supplements are wonderful whether it be a bar or a drink.

A variety of these items are packaged into a disaster relief box which will help feed a family of four.

Most of these boxes will go to the hardest hit counties in our area.

“We have been receiving disaster relief items food and they have going out just as quickly as we can get them in,” Gaglione said.

The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina has donated nearly 50,000 pounds of food over the past week for disaster relief which was enough to provide more than 41,000 meals to people in 16 counties.