6 News WOWT & Salvation Army teaming up for Love Beyond Hunger food drive

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Many of us put money into the Salvation Army’s red kettles during the holiday season to support the many programs and services they provide for the community.

But the need to put food on the table doesn’t end there. A growing number of families are coming to the Salvation Army’s food pantry at the Burrows Center. The need is great because inflation has put limits on how far the food dollar will stretch.

“We could spend $100 and get several bags at the grocery store, now that has dwindled down a lot,” said project director Tiffanie McCown. “So what we’re seeing is that people are coming here to the food pantry first to see what we have to offer and kind of offset that when they go to the grocery store.”

With so many folks looking for help, the Sal Army’s shelves are running bare, and they need a lot of items to fill the space.

“The canned vegetables, beans and fruit, pasta sauces and breakfast items, pasta, peanut butter, that’s a [staple] people look for,” McCown said. “And some of the box dinners, some things people can add a meat to, whether it be ground beef or tuna...something where they can make a meal.”

McCown says it’s vital that donations come in to help fill these shelves to help families -- some who have never before had to ask for help putting food on the table.

“We’re seeing some folks that we’ve honestly never seen come to receive services from us,” McCown said. “We had a couple of families from Afghanistan and so we had to pull out our translator so we could get them the services they needed.”

6 News is joining forces with the Salvation Army for the Love Beyond Hunger Food Drive Thursday, March 23 in the NP Dodge parking lot on the south side of 87th and Dodge. We’ll be collecting from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. that day.

Donations can be made online right now on the Salvation Army’s website.

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