Local Services Adapt To New Faces, New Needs

It's not just food banks that are feeling the squeeze as more and more people look for services in a diminished economy.

The Shalom Project in Winston-Salem is partly a food bank, but it also offers a health clinic, distributes diapers to families in need and offers a clothing closet. And if there's one thing all those services are seeing, it's new faces.

It's new patients after the closing or reductions in other community clinics. It's new hungry mouths to feed as people lose their jobs. Local groups are trying to fill the gap when buyers hoard diapers and baby wipes.

Eileen Ayuso is Shalom's executive director. She says she's not expecting the demands to go away anytime soon.

“That's just the beginning of what we believe will be the iceberg flowing downstream toward us as people are finding that their resources are running low,” she says.

Ayuso says the ripple effects of the economy could put strains on the project for another 12 months.

Nationwide the pandemic has been seen as a crisis like no other because the needs are growing while distancing norms are reducing the availability of volunteers. The pinch can be especially hard for organizations helping children.

For caseworkers, there are physical risks as well as an emotional toll. Child welfare workers in several states, including Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, have tested positive for the virus. Many agencies have cut back on in-person inspections at homes of children considered at risk of abuse and neglect. Instead, visits are now often done through videoconferencing.

The Shalom Project has also had to adjust.

"A lot of thought has gone into how we will continue to provide these services and a lot of planning, and so I think our volunteers are feeling very comfortable in dealing in those spaces just because of the protections we've put in place," Ayuso says. "We have asked many volunteers that have been compromised in any way physically or are of a certain age to not come to help out."

Parker White is founder and executive director of Backpack Beginnings in Greensboro, which provides food, clothing, hygiene products and other things to thousands of children.

It usually runs primarily through schools and is still able to get things to 28 Guilford County locations offering grab-and-go feeding sites. But the pandemic has also forced them to form new partnerships, White says, for example working with the YWCA of High Point to help distribute baby food.

Backpack Beginnings has a COVID-19 page on their blog about how people can help during the outbreak.

People looking for help and not sure where to find it should try the North Carolina helpline operated by the United Way by dialing 2-1-1.

For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you're experiencing.