ST. LOUIS – The new normal at Food Outreach in midtown St Louis is curbside food pickup.
Normally, clients go inside and pick out groceries and prepared food. But because of the pandemic, Food Outreach has had to dramatically change its operation because their clients are at high risk of getting COVID-19.
Food Outreach serves 1,900 clients in the region who are battling hunger and a diagnosis of HIV or cancer.
Food Outreach typically has an army of volunteers to prepare food and work at the grocery store. Now they’re down to only 10 volunteers a week to provide 30 days of food at one time. They’ve served more than 500 clients since the crisis began.
Food Outreach had to cancel its physical fundraising event because of the stay at home orders for the first time in 32 years. They are holding a virtual fundraiser this year from Monday through Friday of next week. A Tasteful Affair is the largest fundraising event of the year for the nonprofit. They hope to raise $100,000 that will help provide 40,000 meals for their underserved clients.
