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West Virginia’s Mountaineer Food Bank is among several charitable organizations that will benefit from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
A few weeks ago, the novelist and ex-wife of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos published a list of charitable investments she is making to nonprofit organizations across the United States, and the nonprofit food bank, which serves 48 counties, including Monongalia, Preston and Marion, received $9 million in late 2020.
The organization plans to share details about how it will be used across the state’s charitable food network at a later time.
“We are convening with our board of directors, leadership team and other stakeholders on this transformational gift,” said Mountaineer Food Bank CEO Chad Morrison. “We’ll be working hard to ensure that this philanthropic gift entrusted to us will help more West Virginians access healthy, nutritious foods.”
According to Scott’s statement, the process for consideration of these gifts was thorough, as only 384 organizations across the country were selected.
“This investment in West Virginia is a vote of confidence in the work we are all doing together to end hunger in our state,” Morrison said. “We wouldn’t be here without our 450-plus-member agencies, our volunteers and all of our donors — individuals, businesses and foundations that support us with financial contributions at every level.
“Everyone that has given food, funds or time to feed families in West Virginia should be extremely proud of this recognition.”
This announcement comes as West Virginia is seeing an unprecedented hunger crisis. Prior to COVID-19, West Virginia had the 11th highest food insecurity rate in the nation with 250,600 struggling with hunger.
Those numbers have soared by 30% to 324,500 during the pandemic. Mountaineer Food Bank distributed over 24 million meals in 2020, an increase of almost 7 million meals from 2019.
“This is an opportunity to start the change of the hunger narrative in our state,” Morrison said, “but the problem is much bigger than what one philanthropist can solve. The support we’ve received from all of our donors has led to this moment. When we all come together and contribute to the solution, our goals come within reach. With this investment and the continued generosity of West Virginians, we can end hunger.”
Info: mountaineerfoodbank.org.
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