NORFOLK, Va. - Candy Hayes is a regular. Twice a week, you can find her in the sorting room of the warehouse of the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, going through donations, bagging them up to go out into the community to help those in need.
She has mixed feelings about her volunteer work.
"I feel happy, and then I feel sad. I'm happy because I'm able to volunteer, and I'm sad because we have to... do this. That's what really gets to me. I tell you, sometimes I come in here and we don't have something, and I want to run out to the store and get it," she said.
Bob Latvis, chief operating officer for the food bank, is grateful for volunteers like Candy.
"Our volunteers are absolutely essential to us here. I would say we wouldn't be able to operate as we do without them," he said.
Candy is passionate about taking action for the food bank's mission and is active on social media trying to spread the word about the need.
"People don't know, you know? They don't know... they don't know if they donate $10, the food bank can buy $60 worth of food, you know. They don't know that can of green beans is going to make somebody's dinner."
And for some families - that is their dinner.
Latvis says that's the sad reality of being food insecure.
"We use the term 'food insecurity' - you can eat, you can have food on your table today, but you don't know if you're going to have food on your table tomorrow. So, there's that insecurity of not knowing where your next meal is coming from. And truly there is no typical face, image of those who are food insecure. It's really... given the pandemic and its effect on everybody, it can be anyone," he said.
And that's why News 3 is asking everyone to take action to support our local food banks. Every little bit can help... Feed the Need.
Click here to learn how you can donate to our Feed the Need food drive.
