By AMELIA FERRELL KNISELY, HD Media
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The warehouse at Mountaineer Food Bank was stacked high with pallets of food.
Chad Morrison, who oversees the organization, described it as an “excess of food” for much of 2019. The overstock was thanks, in part, to a Trump trade program that bulked up federal food items flowing to food banks.
But around West Virginia, isolated and rural food banks struggled to keep their shelves stocked amid the growing need. More people were going hungry because of a lack of jobs and shuttered grocery stores, pantry organizers said.
The disconnect, according to Morrison, was largely due to a lack of transportation.
Many food charities in the state, often times run by aging volunteers with thin monetary donations, don’t own or have access to large, refrigerated trucks to pick up food from Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway.
Refrigerated trucks or vans can cost $50,000 and up. The food bank requires some type of refrigeration if the pantry is more than 30 minutes away.
There are currently no state dollars allocated to the more than 500 food relief agencies around West Virginia that are lifelines for 300,000 people a month. …