With the holidays right around the corner, St. Mary’s Food Bank is facing a different kind of shortage. In addition to food and monetary donations, the nonprofit is seeking people who can donate their time. 

"This is the first time in the five years that I’ve been here that we have open volunteer slots to pack all of these emergency food boxes that we’re going to be distributing in the holidays," said Jerry Brown, Director of Public Relations at St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance. "Normally our volunteer slots are filled up a month to two months in advance when you get to the holiday season but we have open volunteer slots almost each day in November and December."

Brown says last year, St. Mary’s Food Bank distributed 100,000 emergency food boxes. He anticipates a similar need this year.