Higdon Message to Capitol Hill (7-28-20)
Credit: KQTV
Duration:
0 shares
1 views
One of our area's leaders in the non-profit and social service field had a message for washington d.c.
This morning, he delivered it straight to capitol hill lawmakers.
The c.e.o.
Of st.
Joseph's second harvest shared his thought's on how agencies providing help to people during the coronavirus are being stretched.
Kq2's alan van zandt has his story.
<<"i'd like to welcome the witnesses on our panel.
Mr chad higdon, the ceo of second harvest community food bank."
It was an opportunity to share with washington the struggles people here in northwest missouri are having with the economics of the coronavirus.
"we are seeing a tremendous increase in need as a result of covid 19.
"the demand is there.
We're seeing lines of cars and people waiting and we've always been thankful that we've been able to provide."second harvest ceo chad higdon was a witness at a congressional hearing on the experiences of vulnerable populations during disasters.
Testifying online, higdon voiced his concerns that low income individuals are approacing a crossroads as lawmakers wrangle to come up with a new federal covid-19 relief package."we understand programs such as pandemic unemployment, housing are temporary solutions and will eventually come to an end.
I'm concerned that as the federal relief programs end, demand will remain high as will the price to distribute food."as for his agency, higdon shared that second harvest is distributing record amounts of food and thanked the federal government for allowing the national guard to help them with their efforts."naturally it's been helpful to us.
It's helped us to increase our distribution process.
It's been a safe process for the people coming through.
The guard has been taking temperatures before they report for duty and using ppe and maintaining social distance.
It's creating a sense of security for our clients and staff."higdon told lawmakers he is proud of the work his agency provides and hoped they could use some of the information he provided to help others.
"i hope you consider this testimony as an indication of what's been working well and gives ideas of how we can all be better."
Alan van zandt, kq2 news.>> higdon says his agency distributed nearly 10 million pounds of food in the last 12 months, which is a record.
From may to july alone, he says they coordinated 90 mobile food distribution