Amherst food bank sees drop in canned food, beef donations [Video]

“Where’s the beef?” — the popular slogan goes — is much felt in the Neighbors Helping Neighbors’ headquarters in Madison Heights these days. 

Garry Friend, president of Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Inc., an Amherst County nonprofit that began serving meals eight years ago, in a recent report to Amherst Town Council said it has seen a reduction in beef products since the pandemic.

“We now have zero beef in one of our walk-in freezers,” Friend said at council’s March meeting, later adding: “Reduction in beef is causing us to look at our finances differently.”

The food bank’s meat mostly consists of chicken and pork, which is helping the organization through “a big change in what we were used to,” Friend said.

The nonprofit is also seeing a noticeable “slowdown” in donations of canned goods and vegetables, he said. That has led to buying more from a Lynchburg grocery chain location, he …