CATHERINE DRENNAN (0:00): Never before have we been in a situation like this, there’s no playbook for this… in terms of if we think we can handle this, if we continue at the pace we are going, I would say no. I don’t think we have the resources or the capacity within our network to meet the demand of what current unemployment rates are showing.

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LUCAS RAAGAS, BYLINE (0:29): That was Catherine Drennan, the Director of Communications at the Greater Boston Food Bank. Due to the COVID19 outbreak, everyone has been encouraged to stay home, and practice social distancing. Essential personnel at the food bank remain working but the staff has faced a significant reduction. According to Drennan,

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DRENNAN (0:47): Typically, we have about 100 volunteers in the warehouse a day 6 days a week, now we’ve shortened it to just Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with probably about 70 volunteers a day.

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RAAGAS (1:03): In addition to this, the demand for food has risen.

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DRENNAN (1:07): Pre-COVID19, we were serving 140,000 people a week. We have almost doubled our distribution in the last couple of weeks, or about 41% increase in distribution

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RAAGAS (1:22): The rise in demand is caused by the drastic increase in unemployment. While all unemployed people are not looking to, or reliant on, food banks, according to a USDA report people closest to the poverty line are the most reliant on emergency systems for their food.

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DRENNAN (1:36): We don’t see an end in sight in terms of the need obviously there are predictions of 20-30% unemployment. We saw 150,000 new unemployment claims in Massachusetts just last week. So we’re bracing ourselves for the long haul. There are people that needed our services before this and there are going to be more people that are going to be coming to our partners that have never even navigated this system before.

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RAAGAS (2:11): One of those new people to file for unemployment was Owen Gallant, a young resident of Boston who recently was put on indefinite leave without pay from his full time job as a front desk aid at the Boston Fenway Inn outside Copley Square. Complications at his job caused him to initially file for part-time unemployment.

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OWEN GALLANT (2:29): I really won’t be good at $170 a week.

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RAAGAS (2:32): So he is now trying to file for full-time unemployment.

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GALLANT (2:35): I’m getting $170 for the part time so say it’s doubled say it’s $340, $350. I get, or I got, 5 to 6 on a weekly set. I wasn’t getting paid weekly, I was getting paid bi-weekly, but if I break it down it was like 5, 6 hundred per check. So that’s like a little more than half of that bread. So yeah it’s money and if I’m at home I can make it stretch, but depending on how long this goes on for eventually it’s gonna start getting kinda low.

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RAAGAS (3:01): Having used SNAP before, the program formerly known as food stamps, he is not reluctant to take advantage of the services available to him if, or when, that day comes due to this outbreak. The stigma behind such organizations would not stop Gallant.

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GALLANT (3:16): If I needed to do something, I would do it. I don’t look down upon anybody who’s going through a situation. I’m living on affordable housing right now, the building I’m in has a lot of people in affordable housing. There are food pantries nearby, they post fliers up all the time. There are a lot of people that a lot of people probably know that don’t even know what type of situation they’re in.

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RAAGAS (3:39): Both Drennan and Gallant emphasized the need to get rid of the stigma of utilizing emergency services, especially as the need for them grows. To reiterate a point made by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh last week, now is the time we need to come together and help each other, because a lot more people need it now.