As the New Year moves forward and the holiday season becomes a memory, some charities in San Antonio are seeing a slump in donations. With constant demand for its services, one that feels the effects the most is the San Antonio Food Bank.
From around Thanksgiving through December, the food bank receives the standard uptick in donations. But San Antonio Food Bank President Eric Cooper said that once January hits the number of donations and volunteer hours provided drop, a trend that he equates to purchasing toys at Christmas.
“Folks are getting ready for Christmas buying toys for kids, but after Christmas people don’t buy toys and I think the San Antonio Food Bank feels that safe effect,” Cooper said.
Sometimes there are so many volunteers during December; that the food bank can’t schedule them all.
“Sometimes our schedule gets full and we can’t accommodate all the individuals that want to come and get involved,’ Copper added. “But there is plenty of vacancy in our volunteer program in January, February, March.”
The drop is typical for this time of year, but the demand never ceases. The food bank provides about 57,000 people with both perishables and non-perishables every week. That equates to about one million pounds of food. Even if you can’t donate time, money, or food, Cooper said people can donate with their voice.
“In the area of voice, we really need people to learn about the issue and become and advocate and sometimes that can be just advocating to their clubs, or their church, or their company,” Cooper said.
