PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Share Food Program, with the help of government assistance, gave millions of Philadelphians access to healthy food every month.
The organization even partnered with Project DASH, Door Dash’s initiative to empower food banks to continue their mission, and gave 5,000 food boxes to people experiencing food insecurity.
But since then, the government has rolled back on these pandemic-era programs which were crucial for food banks.
“This is not an urban issue, suburban issue or rural issue. It's all across the country,” said George Matysik, the executive director of Share Food Program. “We have folks that are living in food-insecure backgrounds, and we're no longer getting the level of resources that we were in 2020.”
He appreciates how the Philadelphia community has stepped up to help organizations like his, but the need is just too big.
“Right now we have about 10,000 volunteers that work with Share Food Program on an annual basis,” he said. “And I could tell you, I could probably use 10,000 more, because the work we are doing continues to grow.”
Matysik talks about how the pandemic has affected food banks, how they’ve had to adapt and how people can help on the latest episode of KYW Newsradio In Depth.
Listen to the full conversation in the player below, on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.