Local Food Bank in Critical Need of Donations

A food bank in Southern Maryland that supplies many smaller food pantries and charities is in desperate need of supplies -- and says it's worried that it won't be able to provide food on Monday.

The Catholic Charities Southern Maryland Food Bank put out an urgent call to the community Thursday, asking for pasta, rice, canned food and other dry goods.

The food bank has 10,000 pounds of supplies for Monday, when it is due to send a shipment to the local food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and group homes it supports. But it needs another 8,000 pounds to meet what they called "the very basic needs of the community."

"We're at a critical point, where there's not enough food coming into the food bank for us to meet our basic monthly commitment to area food pantries," said Erik Salmi, a spokesman for Catholic Charities. "Without a big push in donations, families are going to go hungry or have to make tough choices about food. We need the community to donate any kind of dry, non-perishable food items."

The food bank said the deficit was the result of a painful combination of high demand for food and low donations.

They asked the community to donate dry food items to the Irongate location, at 22A Irongate Drive, Waldorf, MD, 20652.

For other ways to give and more information on the Southern Maryland Food Bank, click here.

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