Legal Feeding Frenzy!

Blanco Tackabery is proud to, once again, participate in the North Carolina Legal Feeding Frenzy, a food and fund drive competition among all North Carolina law firms to assist North Carolina’s Feeding America Food Banks.

According to a COVID-19 Food Bank Impact report released by Feeding the Carolinas, there is a dramatic and immediate need to support our local food banks:

• Food Banks had an almost immediate increase in clients served of on average 57%, and is currently at 30-40%, with no signs of letting up anytime soon. The economic downturn has caused many citizens to turn to the Food Banks for help.
• Food insecurity since COVID-19 struck has increased from 1 in 7 adults to almost 1 in 5, and 1 in 4 children.

They have also seen food shortages and reduced lead times on providing food to those who need it:

• Food banks rely heavily on donated product. Retail store pickups are way down due to lower inventory levels and the challenges of picking up food safely in a pandemic. That also means salvage is down as well. Without donated food, the Food Banks are forced to purchase food.
• Food purchases by the Food Banks almost immediately increased from an average of about $82,000 per month to almost $1 million per month – a 12x increase PER Food Bank.

The report indicates that there is a lack of volunteers due to sheltering at home:

• Two reliable sources of volunteers – employer-sponsored events and retirees – were disrupted due to shelter-in-place orders and local health concerns. NC and SC deployed National Guard members to food banks to make up for this lack of volunteers, providing a temporary resource to manage the mass distribution of food. This deployment has ended in SC and will come to an end in NC in December.
• Food banks have lost at least 50% of their regular volunteer base as a result of the pandemic.

Finally, the report reveals that “on average, 30-40% Partner Agencies shut their doors during the pandemic; in some areas, Food Banks lost three-quarters of their distribution network.”

For the above reasons and more, Blanco Tackabery feels more compelled than ever to do our part in providing the items these food banks need to be effective.

The Legal Feeding Frenzy is a friendly competition for a very worthwhile organization that helps a large number of families in our city and it is a great way for us to share with our community.