09/03/2026
In July, staff at Heart and Hand Outreach Ministries in South Charleston provided food to 80 people in one day — the busiest day in the organization’s 60-year history, outreach director Jenny Keener said. An average day for the organization is serving between 30 and 45 people, she said.
“More and more people are coming to the food pantry all the time,” Keener told West Virginia Watch on Monday. She said the rising grocery prices have meant fewer people can afford to donate food to the pantry.
“What happens is that people like you and me who used to be able to go buy extra food and drop it off at a food pantry, we don’t have the money anymore to do that,” she said. “And at the same time, we have SNAP cuts, and so those people don’t go away. They’re still hungry… it creates this situation where we have to reach further and further out for donations and really rely on the good graces of others to help us keep everything stocked and ready to go for when we have those big days.”
About 4,000 fewer West Virginia children have federal food assistance benefits as of May, according to the Department of Human Services.
