NEW ORLEANS - District "B" Councilmember Jay H. Banks has issued the following statement regarding the suspension of his weekly COVID-19 food pantries:

"After serving many thousands of community members over the last five months, the District B Drive-Up Food Pantry has been suspended, hopefully only temporarily. When the circumstances change, and we are able to secure additional resources, we will resume the distributions. In the meantime, we remain committed to getting vital resources to our neighbors, and we're looking forward to supporting other community efforts.

The need for food is real - COVID-19 just made the reality of food insecurity easier for everyone to see. 

I sincerely thank all our volunteers and our restaurant partners, who showed up for their neighbors every single week, in the heat and the rain, to make sure people had the food they needed. We cannot express enough gratitude to our partners at Goodwill, Second Harvest, and World Central Kitchen for the tremendous amount of work and time they put towards supporting our community. On behalf of the thousands of families served, I say thank you."

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Media Contact:

Jena D. Burke

Director of Land Use

504-658-1020

Jenna.Burke@nola.gov