Good NestingEmergency food assistance is something that has become a reality for many families since COVID-19 appeared on the scene. First came shutdowns that caused businesses to close and jobs to be lost. Then came reduced income, and with it, worries about food.
One solution that may have popped into your head for such a crisis is SNAP or food stamps. While it can certainly help you feed your family by giving you funds to use at the grocery store each month, SNAP is more of a solution for the long haul.
In other words, it may not give you the food assistance you need right this second, which is essential when your family is nearing starvation.
Is SNAP the only form of food assistance you can find until everything goes back to normal. Not at all, as there are many forms of emergency food assistance that come in the form of:
- Food pantries
- Food banks
- Food drives
- Soup kitchens
You can find free meals and nutritional supplies through these emergency food assistance options. Best of all, you can find them rather easily, thanks to the Internet.
How to Find Food Banks Online
Will a quick Google search help you find food pantries and similar options near you? Yes, but if you want to cut to the chase and see the best sites to help you find emergency food assistance now, here they are:
- Ample Harvest
- Foodpantries.org
- Feeding America
As its name suggests, Ample Harvest has a bit of a produce theme. That’s because many gardeners use the website to see where they can donate their extra fruits and vegetables for a good cause. Is Ample Harvest only good for fruits and veggies? No, because you can use it to find food pantries too.
Head on over to Ample Harvest’s “Find a Food Pantry” page and type in your zip code. Pick your search radius, knowing that the bigger you make it, the more food assistance options you’ll see.
After clicking “Search,” you’ll see a list of pantries, churches, and more that offer emergency food assistance. You can also view them on a map to get an idea of how close they are to your location.
Next up on the list is Foodpantries.org. You can use it to find food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks, and more.
Go to the home page and find your state in the drop-down menu. This will bring up a list of cities in your state, along with how many food assistance options are in each.
Click in your desired city to see what’s available. For each option, you can see contact info, as well as what may be required before visiting the food bank or pantry in person.
Last but not least is Feeding America. It features tens of thousands of food pantries in its directory and over 200 food banks. You can use its food bank locator to find free meals near you by simply typing in your zip code.
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