Food Assistance
Catholic Charities West Virginia offers several programs which help our community members to feed their families full, healthy meals.
Our food assistance programs meet the needs of the different communities we serve; therefore, we have various programs throughout the state.
We have a number of food pantries throughout West Virginia. And in rural areas classified as food deserts, we operate a mobile food pantry which travels to remote areas. We also provide home-delivered meals in some areas and blessing bags of shelf-stable food in other locations to meet the needs of those who are homebound.
West Virginia continues to rank as one of the nation’s most unhealthy populations; with obesity, diabetes, tobacco use and heart disease more prevalent in our state compared to others. We recognize that food plays a significant role in the health and vitality of those we serve.
To combat these issues, our new Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) program provides nutritional guidance and support to food pantry patrons.
Food Pantries
Our food pantry programs provide participants a multiple-day supply of food on a monthly basis. Pantry patrons are offered healthy options, and select the items included in their food order.
The pantries primarily serve households with incomes at or below 150% of federal poverty guidelines. However, no one is turned away.
Catholic Charities operates eight traditional food pantries statewide, and we partner with parishes and other partners to provide food assistance in various communities.
We are also piloting the Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) food ranking system to educate pantry patrons about nutrition and to help prevent chronic health conditions.
Mobile Food Pantry
We created our Mobile Food Pantry to address the needs of low-income families in rural and isolated areas classified as food deserts by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Food deserts are areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food.
The poverty rate in the counties served by the Mobile Food Pantry ranges from 15.7% to 21.7%, with the majority of clients served living more than 40 miles from a supermarket.
Our Mobile Food Pantry van travels to remote areas in a six-county area east of Wood County. Our mobile outreach team provides pantry foods and fresh produce, relying heavily on volunteer support to distribute the food.
Our team also provides nutritional and educational information, benefits enrollment assistance and referrals.
On-Site Meals
Daily hot meals are currently available on-site at our Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center in Wheeling. Breakfast and dinner are served for our neighbors who are unsheltered or experiencing food insecurity.
Home-Delivered Meals
Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center prepares and delivers hot, nutritious meals to persons who are homebound in the Wheeling area. There is no cost to participate in Catholic Charities’ home-delivered meals program, and meals are delivered through the good will of committed volunteers.