Non-profit organizations seeing a shortage of volunteers, which could impact the number of people served

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Non-profits in Mid-Missouri are experiencing a shortage of volunteers, which could in turn impact how many people they can serve.

The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri sent out a call Wednesday asking for more people to volunteer, saying the shortage of hands could impact programs that provide food to thousands across 32 counties.

Spokesman Seth Wolfmeyer said the organization sees a "summer slump" in volunteers every year as more people are doing things and students have left the area. This year though has been especially hard, he said.

"I think we are still seeing people don't know exactly what's going on, or that there are some concerns, and it's making that summer slump that we always see even worse, or even more pronounces," Wolfmeyer said.

He said volunteers do a lot of the hands-on work for the organization, like packing boxes of food to be given out to those in need.

"This issue is we don't have volunteers to do that labor to put these things together so we can distribute to people," Wolfmeyer said. "That makes it hard for us to maintain the number of people we serve."

The pantry's priority is to serve as many people as it can, and Wolfmeyer said they have done everything they can at this point to continue to serve at the level it has been.

As Mid-Missouri inches closer to life as normal, The Food Bank says the need is starting to get back down than what during the pandemic.

"Do we still see people that might need help for the first time, because their savings have been drained, that is the case where we still see people affected by the pandemic who still need help," Wolfmeyer said.

The cost of food and other materials going up because of the pandemic has also created issues for the organization.

Wolfmeyer said the cost of food for the pantry more than double last year because of the pandemic, but because of donations and grants, it has been able to keep the same level of service.

The Salvation Army is also experiencing a lack of volunteers, according to Major Curtiss Hartley.

"Our volunteer coordinator is spending a lot of time trying to make contact with folks, some of them due to their situation, age, and health reconditions, just might not be comfortable yet," Hartley said.

He said the need is continuing to stay steady, so more volunteers are needed to start opening things like the pantry back up to full capacity.

"The help of volunteers helps us open up more fully and more quickly to meet the needs that are out there," Hartley said.

If you would like to get involved with The Food Bank or The Salvation Army, you can visit their website linked here.