Talk of the Town October 28, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Kluksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Nolting.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good Tuesday morning, nine oh seven, fair skies and forty
four degrees in the University City. Welcome to Talk of
the Town and good Tuesday morning. I'm Mike Nolting, and
if you're on X you'll find me on that platform
as your news guy and producing the program this morning.
Is the voice of the number four Class A high

(00:40):
school football team in the state, Clay Bettel CBS. That
would be Ethan Collins. You'll be able to get him
at eight hundred seven six five eight two five five.
The text line that number three oh four Talk three
oh four. That is your direct access to the program.
Due to a late cancelation, we're going to shift our focus.

(01:04):
At nine point fifteen, we were going to speak with
an official from the American Federation of Government Employees. Now
that is the largest union representing federal government employees. They
represent eight hundred thousand workers in nearly every category of
federal worker. Now just within the last twenty four hours,

(01:27):
they have called on lawmakers to agree to a clean
continuing resolution, meaning pretty much what's been on the table
for the last of twenty some days that couldn't really
get any agreement on. Well, they have asked for that.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Then.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
In addition to that, they have also asked to expand
the lawsuit that is calling for protections for federal workers
being fired during the federal government shutdown, and they would
like for those protections to be extended to other unions
like the SEIU, the American Federation of Teachers, and also

(02:07):
the National Treasury Union employees, the folks that represent the
people at the Treasury. However, we'll work on getting an
update of that particular situation and we'll pass those details
onto you now. On the government shutdown front, Governor Morrissey

(02:28):
as a news conference this afternoon could address the growing
concerns about federal SNAP benefits not being available to one
hundred and forty four thousand households. A federal funding for
SNAP runs out Saturday because of the ongoing government shutdown.
Food pantries and churches trying to take up all the
slack that can but they can't do it all. We're

(02:49):
going to talk with Tom Bloom coming up at nine
to fifteen. Also at nine forty this morning, looks like
we'll possibly have an announcement about a new emergency food
initiative that is being implemented for the Thanksgiving holiday. Members
of the American Federation of Government Employees have had enough,

(03:09):
calling for lawmakers to stop the shut down now and
agree to a continuing a clean continuing resolution now it
is then, they say, once you agree on that continuing resolution,
we can all get back together. We could talk about
the Affordable Care Act. We could talk about those subsidies
and other healthcare issues now. Also over in Preston County,

(03:35):
in an emergency meeting Monday, commissioners there approved sixteen thousand
dollars request from Camp Ambulance. The ongoing federal government shutdown
there has impacted their cash flow and ability to make payroll.
Preston County commission they'll still hold their regular meeting this week.
It's coming up Wednesday morning at nine to thirty. And

(03:55):
a man's being treated for life threatening injuries in a
Pittsburgh hospital following a fall from the stands during Monday's
Pittsburgh Penguin's game. Police say he fell from level two
hundred to level one hundred and another person was hurt
in that fall. And how about that World Series game
three six hours and thirty nine minutes. Freddie Freeman puts

(04:20):
an end to it with a solo walk off home
run that gave the Dodgers a six to five win
over the Blue Jays. Certainly keep our eyes on that,
that's for sure. When we come back, we're going to
talk about food insecurity. We're going to talk about the
level of need in the community all across the board.

(04:40):
That's coming up next on Top of the Town. AM
fourteen forty FM one four point five W A j R.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fivey five.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
This is the talk of the town.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
We've got Tuesday morning. It is nine to fifteen, fair skies,
forty four degrees in the University City. The federal government
shutdown rolls on. We're in week number four. So far,
Governor Morrissey has been able to speed up releasing more
than a million dollars to help food pantries across the state.

(05:30):
And there we expect another announcement this afternoon that could
address even more people that are affected by this government shutdown. Nevertheless,
Commissioner Tom Bloom has been involved in the food relief
program here in Montengilia County for at least a decade,
probably more. I'll let Tom correct me on that, but

(05:53):
we're going to get an idea of how the need
for food has changed, especially recently. Tom. Good morning, Thank
you for your time. How are you?

Speaker 4 (06:02):
Oh good, Thank you very much. Mike. You know how
I'm usually on here very positive talking about what's going
on in the county. This is not one of those days.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, and I'm afraid you're rite, Tom. But before we
talk about the current situation, why don't you take us
back to maybe twenty twenty post pandemic talk about food
need then, Well, what.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
Had happened was during the pandemic, everything shut down and
I can tell you the pantry plus more and this
is why we know so much about it was the
only pantry that was open in the state, and so
we received a lot of funding and we kept, you know,
what we could do in Moneghette County open. After the pandemic,

(06:46):
people started helping again and it was great. We were
able to get the food out to the individuals. We
get to the school systems, all the programs like Christian Help,
you know, in community kitchen, we're doing great jobs. And
then about I would say almost six months ago, we
started to see a turn again of more of a need.

(07:10):
And not only that, but also whether you want to
play politics or not, when one point two billion dollars
was cut and Chad was on it from the Mountaineer
Free Bank yesterday explaining that the amount of food available
is not there. So therefore you had a program where
the federal government paid the local farmers, they bought the food,

(07:32):
then they gave it and distributed it back to the
local community. That is not going on anymore. So it's
becoming more and more difficult to find large amounts of food.
For example, we're having real trouble finding meat and chicken
for three hundred and fifty people. Every other week. We've gone,
for example, all over from Union Town down the Clarksburg

(07:54):
to just buy three hundred and fifty boxes of turkey stuffing.
So it's becoming more the challenge. And then what has
happened in the last two weeks is just I would
just use the word unprecedented. The amount of interest that
is now needed for food and the calls has quadrupled.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
I'll leave it there well, Tom, absolutely i'd like to
get your reaction to this. Mon County Commissioner Tom Bloom
is with us and we're talking about the increase food
insecurity that is happening across the county amid the government shutdown. Now, Tom,
I had Colleen Langford on the program yeh yes, earlier

(08:36):
this week. She explained to me that from January to
this month, the month of October, the requests for food
have gone up fifty three percent, yet their ability to
get food has remained unchanged.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
And that is exactly what we're seeing across the entire
money let alone. I know we're we're very progressive in
you know, Christine and others to try and find that food.
I can only imagine what it's like in other rural
errors in West Virginia, and of course we get hit
harder than everyone else West Virginia than anyone else. I

(09:17):
think people don't understand about the SNAP benefits, So let
me explain this. Economists say that every dollar that a
household spends them when they use the SNAP funds brings
back a dollar seventy in economic activity. So when you
had three hundred and twenty seven million dollars being used
for SNAP, it was generating six hundred and seventy million

(09:41):
dollars in economic revival. My concern is that we were
finally slowly seen coming out of the cycle poverty, and
that's with you know, the opioid crisis and the food
and security. We were were turning it around. And in
the last six months, I agree with Christine, we've taken

(10:03):
two steps backward, and I'm very angry. I don't want
to even say I'm extremely angry at my political counterparts
at the federal level. I can make it very simple.
Just pass the bill for the SNAP and the food
and then let's go on while everyone wants to blame

(10:23):
someone else. Our kids are starving, our families are falling
back into that cycle prop poverty, and we need to
do some things, which I will say, I want to
congratulate you, Mike, you call me and I think the
radio stations I believe it's November seventh, is planning to
do a twelve hour food drive. Zach Morton from the

(10:44):
Church has called me up and said, what can we
do as a community to start getting funding and food
for the people, and then I know, I really appreciate it.
I know you're having a man on the board who's
going to talk about some things that are about to
happen in the near future. But this is a crisis
right now and we have to deal with it.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
That food drive is coming up on November the seventh.
It'll be at the Giant Eagle at University Town Center
from six am to six pm. We'll be broadcasting Talk
of the Town live there that day and also collecting
food for area food pantries during that twelve hour period.
We've got mon County Commissioner Tom Bloom. Tom, if you would,

(11:26):
I'd like for you to share with the listeners your
travels through the schools. I know off the air, you
and I had a conversation about the difference in what
you're seeing now as to maybe what you saw last
year at area schools.

Speaker 4 (11:43):
Well, one of the things, and I don't want to
take the thunderway from Amanda, but we have what's called
outreach facilitator. The school system really stepped up and said
for those families that need help, whether it's food or
medical or mental positions, they have in an individual in
the school system that tries to get the people to help.

(12:04):
One of their duties is to contact pantry plus more
and we do what's called emergency food. I don't even
call it a basket, boxes and programs that can last
for a week or two. To give an idea, we're
averaging maybe five of these requests every eight days. In
the last eight days, we've had thirty requests in the

(12:28):
last month, over one hundred and this is before the
snap benefits have gone at I think there's a lot
of fear, a lot of concern of where we're going
to put our money to pay our bills, and everyone's
really worried. And in the school system, if you're hungry,
then you're not going to study. You're not going to study,
and you're going to worry about what's happening at home.

(12:50):
Then everything fails, not only studying, but then problems developed
with fights, problems developed with attendance. So, like I said,
this is pushing us back in a cycle of poverty,
and I'm livid. There is absolutely no reason why this
era cannot be resolved and move on. Everybody wants to

(13:11):
get a win, but the problem is our families in
West Virginia and our kids are losing.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Mont County Commissioner Tom Bloom is with us. And now
on Monday, Tom, we saw the commissioners in Preston County
hold an emergency meeting in order to approve sixteen thousand
dollars to help keep the folks at Camp Ambulance paid.
What if any fiscal repercussions are rippling through the county

(13:39):
as a result of this government shut down.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
Well, I think it affects everyone. I mean, and that's
the thing, you know, you people just you want to
go to the security office, You want to get some help,
you want to get you know, ea messaged. People do
not have the funds to buy not only the things
they need, but also what happens is many businesses survive
on secondary funds, which would mean okay, you paid your bills,

(14:06):
but you have some extra money to be able to
do some things. That's what we're seeing right now. Everyone
is worried. Everyone's tight. People are afraid to hire people
during this crisis. But it's bigger than people realize. And
we really as a community have been wonderful, like the
Morgantown and Urban bowhunters. What three hundred and fifty pounds

(14:28):
of meat for us. Everyone's contributing at this level and
the counting level. The problem is somebody's got to wake
up the people at the federal level them and say,
let's get our act together and let's solve this problem.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well, let me ask you. Have you reached out to
any of our federal representatives. What have you told them?

Speaker 4 (14:47):
Well, basically, I've told them that, and you know what, Okay,
I'll try and be careful how I respond to this.
I'm being told, oh, well, we're trying, but it's the
Democrats laws. Oh we're trying to it's Republican fault. Both sides.
I mean, each wants to say that it's someone else's fault.
You know what the problem is. I'm a teacher, I'm

(15:08):
a counselor. We don't care whose fault it is. We
want to solve the problem and that's what we need
to do. And right now, there's no one willing to
sit down at the table. And you know, I keep
sending information. I'm people will worried. I know the governor
says he's releasing a million dollars. Well, my question is how,

(15:28):
because there's only two food banks in the State of
West Virginia. Is he going to give it to each
individual area? For example, wade'stown area is hurting big time
and we're trying to help them out. So we can
always do only so much in the county and the
cities are trying to help out, but that's not going

(15:49):
to solve the problem. That's only going to be a
temporary fix. And we need to get our act together
at the federal level and wake up and quit complaining
and quit spending money in the other places. Bring Congress
back together. You can't do anything if you're not in session,
and solve the problem absolutely.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Mon County Commissioner Tom Bloom. Tom, really do appreciate your
time and you will. We'll be talking again as we
approach November the seventh and the Cans for Community event
presented by wv RC Media Cares for Community. Tom, thank
you very.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
Much, Thank you, We look working with you.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Thank you absolutely. You bet take care of yourself. Tom.
Morgantown City Council Committee of the Whole will gavel in
this evening at seven pm. They'll be taking a look
at a couple of ordinances that would adjust some city
zoning codes. I think that that is consistent with what

(16:48):
we've talked about with Mary Daniel Trumbull on the program,
trying to maybe open up some housing for folks, maybe
some single some single family homes into multifamily residences in
order to create more affordable housing throughout the community. Certainly

(17:10):
easy for me to say not that meeting. They'll gavele
in at seven o'clock tonight in City Council Chambers, and
of course you'll be able to watch that on YouTube
at the City of Morgantown YouTube channel. Also on that agenda,
Director of Arts and Culture, Vincent Kitch will be on

(17:30):
hand and he'll be providing a twoenty twenty five Ruby
Summer Concert Series update. Now, of course, if you're a
regular listener to the program, you've already received that update,
and we know what kind of year they had.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
It was.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Actually, despite all the rain, it was a very good year.
Economic impact of nearly two hundred thousand dollars more than
I believe it was thirty thousand people. And this year
we officially became international. There were people, I believe, Vincent said,
from three or four countries that made the trip to

(18:06):
Morgantown for the Ruby Summer Concert Series once again, they'll
gabble in tonight at seven o'clock and later to during
the program, we are going to speak with Amanda Bolliard
from Pantry plus More. We're going to talk to her
about what she's seeing on the ground, number one and

(18:27):
a new emergency initiative being ruled out for the upcoming
Thanksgiving holiday. Coming up after the news break, we'll spend
a few minutes with Timothy Watson from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. Timothy is in Fairmont at the relief center there.

(18:48):
He has taken over for John Frederick. I think you
remember you remember John, He came to the program a
few times. Well, we're going to get an update from
Timothy Watson coming up next on Talk of the Town.
But before we do that, we must recognize there is
much that is happening across the great state of West Virginia,

(19:10):
and to find out exactly what that is, will head
to the Metro news ANCHORDESK on the Voice of Morgantown
one oh four point five FM and AM fourteen forty WAJR.
Currently fair Sky's forty four degrees in Morgantown. Metro NEWSACU
weather says sunny fifty seven for the High.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Now back to the talk of the town.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Good Tuesday morning, fair skies, forty four degrees in the
University City. It is nine thirty five. This is Talk
of the town in studio. I've to Timothy Watson with
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hey Timothy, good morning, sir.
How are you.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
I am doing well, sir? How are you?

Speaker 2 (20:09):
I'm doing very good? Thank you very much. Okay, back
on Father's Day weekend, the area slammed with torrential rains
over about a three hour period, caused extensive damage in
Marion and Ohio Counties. We're going to focus on Marion
County today, so give us an update if you would.

Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yes, sir, so, I am Timothy Watson, public affairs specialist
with the United States Small Business Administration Office of Disaster
Recovery and Resilience, which I know is a worder, but
we are here in reference to the storms that occurred
from June fourteenth to the fifteenth, that is, severe storms,
straight line winds, flooding, landslides, and mud slots. If you

(20:49):
were affected by that storm with physical damages, as Mike
has just mentioned in Marion and Ohio County. We have
two loan programs that can assist you. The physical damage
loan deadline what September twenty second.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
We do assist more than businesses.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
We assist homeowners for up to five hundred thousand dollars
for the effects of the damages that happen to their home.
They'll get an additional twenty percent for mitigation purposes to
build back a little stronger and more resistance in the future.
Renters for up to one hundred thousand dollars for the
interior context of the home that might be destroyed. In

(21:24):
businesses and nonprofits for up to two million dollars. We
do have a sixty day grace period that Mike was
allowing us to speak on, so you have up until
November twenty second to apply to that program with no
justification as to.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Why you are applying late.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
And we want the public to know that FEMA is
there for them as well. We want them to apply
to both programs that is grant funding that can assist them.
We do know that everybody is not going to qualify
for a loan. There is no fee for them to
apply for this loan program, so we're trying to really
encourage people that're trying to take advantage of that UH.

(22:02):
These interest rates or fixed mike uh. The interest rate
is two point eight one to three percent at the lowest,
five point six two five percent at the highest for
home loans, four percent at the lowest, for business loans,
eight percent for at the highest four business loans, and
for nonprofit organizations it is three point six two five percent.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Okay. Now, time is of the essence, Timothy. So what
is the quickest best way to apply or to get
that process going.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
Yes, and I'm glad you asked that we did have
some recovery centers with FEMA that are unfortunately closed. The
best way to apply is going on our website at
SBA dot gov Ford slash disaster. We do have a
one eight hundred number for customer service which is one
eight hundred sixty five nine two nine five five. For
the listeners who have already applied, they can still go

(22:53):
into the application portal to check on their application. The
customer service reps are there to assist you and do
we You have also these contiguous counties that can get
assistance as well for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
That program is for working capital loans to help small
businesses in small agricultural cooperatives, businesses engage in agriculture, and

(23:15):
most private nonprofit organizations to meet their necessary financial obligations
that they cannot meet as the rec result of this disaster.
That loan program ends April twenty second of twenty twenty six.
They are covering additional counties of Brook, Harrison, Marshall, Mongolia, Taylor,
and Wetzel, just to give you that information as well.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Okay, good Now, the economic injury loans, that deadline is
not until April of twenty six. And the reason that
that is such is because there might be some people
that are just now starting to feel the impact of
the loss of a customer for example.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
That is absolutely correct, sir. They usually are given nine
months after the the occurrence, which the occurrence again was
June fourteenth and fifteenth.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
They might not have the.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
Effects immediately, but in case of a Wetzel county or
the counties that directly touch Marion County, it may take
a little time for them to actually see those effects
as they might be getting people that come in regularly
from that county. So this is why they're given an
extended amount of time.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Okay, Now, Tempathy, we're all creatures of habit unfortunately, and
now with the offices closed, if somebody has a question,
what's the best way to reach out to you, the way.

Speaker 5 (24:37):
To reach out to me would be, actually, you can
call me directly at two zero two seven three one
eight nine three two. If you need further assistance, maybe
you have an application that needs further assistance as far
as you get an understanding. So prime example, you might
have your application, you don't know what the updates are

(24:59):
for the application. You might have some confusion, your application
may have been declined for some reason. Please do not
throw the decline letter away unless it say it's final decline,
we cannot or assist you, unfortunately. But if it just
says decline, that means you have to submit additional documentation
to overturn your reason for decline, and you have up
to six months to go through that decline process to resubmit. Also,

(25:24):
if you're in a situation where you're on the fence,
you don't know if you necessarily want the loan, you
have up to two months, which is sixty days from
the point of being funded, to accept those funds or
to remit the funds back to the Small Business Administration.
So we are just here to assist. We're not trying
to shove alone on someone. We're just trying to give

(25:47):
them an additional opportunity. Prime example, if you have insurance
and you are waiting for insurance to pay out, you
cannot just have to wait on them. You can follow
up and go ahead and apply apply with us. Once
you receive the insurance payout, you will use that insurance
to either pay off the loan or pay off a portion.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
Or if you're in a situation where you.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
Cannot afford the insurance deductible, you can use the loan
from the Small Business Administration to go ahead and pay
for your insurance deductible. So we're trying to help out
as best as we can in a variety of different ways.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
There was one more clarification that I wanted to get to,
and that is, you know, distinguishing the SBA from FEMA,
because I think that I think what I'm trying to
say here is that some people that go to the
SBA to get a loan might not be able to
get a loan, but they can get that loan from
the from FEMA instead.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
Yes, so we do have our eligibility criteria just as well.
As FAMA, one of the eligibility criterias is the ability
to be able to repay the loan. That is taken
into consideration, and then we also look at the eligibility
based on the credit now not just the credit score
which is a minimum score of five to seventy, but
also the credit history that can make you ineligible some

(27:08):
time to get receive a loan from US. This is
why we always encourage people to apply to both programs
because the application is free of charge and for the
counties that do have the physical damage, which is Ohio
and Marion, those individuals can apply to this program. So
we encourage people to get funding from both portals, from

(27:28):
FEMA for the grant funding as well as the Small
Business Administration if they need an additional assistance.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Perfect, Timothy Watson, you are a wealth of information, there's
no doubt about it, and great training for your for
the next generation of SBA bor.

Speaker 5 (27:47):
Yes, sir, I have my colleagues I loan Shanning and
Shanida taped with us today.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
I wasn't gonna let them get away without at least
being recognized.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
Absolutely, and they're doing well.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Okay, yeah, absolutely they are now. Timothy if you would
give us your number one more time.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
Yes, that is two zero two seven three one eight
nine three two. For the listeners who might have additional
questions or they need additional support, there is no crowd
or no audience that is too small. We will come
to churches, we will come to barbershops, we will come
to salons. Yes, we deal with the mayors, the governor's office,
the senators, and the Emergency Management and USDA, but we

(28:31):
are here to support those who have questions and they
have needs.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
All right, perfect, Hey, thank you very much for coming in.
Really do appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Thank you, Mike. We appreciate you absolutely.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
It's nine forty three. When we come back, we're going
to zero in on Pantry plus More. We're going to
talk about their food needs and how those are changing
amid the government shutdown. It's coming up next on Top
of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one oh four
point five W A j R.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
Talk of the Town.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Well, good Tuesday morning. It is nine forty seven. Amanda
Bullyard is with Pantry plus More here in Montagelia County
and she's on the phone with us Good morning, Amanda.
How are you today.

Speaker 6 (29:30):
I'm doing well, Mike, thanks for having me well.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
It's a pleasure to have you on, Amanda. I do
appreciate you taking the time. Please give us an idea
of what's happening over at Pantry plus More amid this
federal government shutdown.

Speaker 6 (29:45):
Sure, well, I will note that we are always working
to put food into the hands of children, families that
have school age children. As we know, poverty is a cycle,
and so our hope and our mission is surrounded by
helping school age children and the hopes that we can
and give them the resources they need to break the
cycle of poverty. Right now, everyone at the Pantry plus More,

(30:08):
which is an all volunteer board we have no paid staff,
is very concerned about the possible delay and snap benefit
distribution in conjunction with families not receiving paychecks of their
government workers. We are We had a board meeting last
night and we're trying to quickly organize plans to help
these families. We typically have one distribution per month, and

(30:32):
we are working to quickly organize and execute an additional
distribution that will be a pop up in efforts to
help families particularly during Thanksgiving week when children are at
of school and they do not have access to free
school meals, and they do not have access to the
in school pantries in schools that have them. From the

(30:54):
Pantry plus More so, we are working diligently. Like I said,
we're in all volunteer board, so we have been in
constant communication to try to organize that and find additional
resources to help those in the community.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Is there a tentative date for that pop up event?

Speaker 6 (31:14):
There is not a date right now, but we are
working through that. We're in a process of raising money
for that. If you follow our Facebook page, we have
a donation live and we are also working trying to
get into contact with other agencies to help, you know,
see what we can do and work together.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
You bet, you bet. Amanda Bollyard is with us from
Pantry plus More. There's certainly strengthen numbers. In my conversations
with other people in your particular line of work, I've
learned that actually finding the source for bulk food is
becoming just about as difficult as funding those bulk sources.

(31:57):
Tell us about that part of it.

Speaker 6 (31:59):
I am actually so glad that you brought that up
because it's not and this is kind of noted in
a letter that we just shared. It's not always funding.
It is storage, it is procuring bulk. You know, our
distributions serve around three hundred and fifty families, so finding
that and non perishable items can be difficult, but especially

(32:19):
items like meat that are expensive. You know, it's not
often that you can call a grocery store and order,
you know, six hundred pounds of meat at a reasonable price.
And it's important for it to be reasonable reasonably priced
one so we can stretch it, but two because we
have a responsibility to our donors to not waste their money.

(32:42):
Procuring is very difficult, Storing is very difficult. Moving is
very difficult. Especially, like I said, we're an all volunteer organization.
Most of us that are involved have jobs.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
What kind of well, what kind of roles maybe could
volvolunteers fill for you?

Speaker 6 (33:02):
Well, we always have have volunteer roles available that you
can find through our sign genius that is on our website.
That's the best way to help us. Once we have
a date for this pop up, we will be posting
now on our sign up genius to get volunteers to
help that in terms of procurement, that's not really something

(33:24):
that a lay volunteer can do, you know, it's you know,
not everyone has a procurement card. Though, if donors had
frozen meat or something, they could message us to coordinate
a pickup. But like I said, you know, finding storage
and things like that can be difficult.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Absolutely, Now, listeners, you can head out to Pantry plusmore
dot org and you'll be able to follow along with
our conversation. Uh so, when is your next distribution event
scheduled for man?

Speaker 6 (34:00):
So something that I would like to note that we
have our Mountaineer Food Bank distribution on November fifteenth. That
and that's available to every resident in mont County. You
do not have to have a school a children in school.
So the best way to follow our information is to
our Facebook page where we constantly post what we have

(34:20):
and then if you're a client of ours, we send
out mass text messages. But like I said, the best
way to get information from us is to follow our
Facebook page.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Okay, now, Amanda, information on your website says in mon County,
twenty percent of children go to bed hungry. Is that
number up in this shutdown?

Speaker 6 (34:40):
Absolutely? You have families that are that might have never
needed a food pantry. If their parent is a government
worker and they're not receiving a paycheck, they might be
an untarred waters for themselves. I think the number has
always been understated. You know, you only have the data
available to you. Definitely, at minimum five children in mont

(35:00):
County are hungry. Of households in West Virginia that receives
SNAP benefits have children in them. And I want to
make note that poverty has a stigma on it that
is unfair. And at the end of the day, regardless
of why there's a family in poverty, there's children involved

(35:21):
of the time.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Amanda Bulliard with pantry, plus Moris with us and now Amanda,
we're going to be doing a food collection event on
November the seventh at the Giant Eagle at University Town Center.
I'd love for you to come up that day. I'd
like to meet you, put you on the radio and
let you talk more about your story.

Speaker 6 (35:39):
Sure, I would love to.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Okay, all right, Amanda, really good talking with you this morning,
and keep up the good work.

Speaker 6 (35:46):
Thank you, Mike appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Yes, ma'am, you take care all right. It is nine
p fifty five fair skies and forty five degrees in Morgantown.
We'll be back to wrap things up coming up right
after this on Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty
FM oneh four point five WAJR.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fivey five.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
This is the Talk of the Town.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
A good Tuesday morning, it is nine to fifty eight
and preparing to pave the way for Metro News talk line.
A couple of program notes today over near Mond General Hospital,
law enforcement will be conducting some exercises there, so don't
be alarmed if you see an increased police presence in

(36:50):
that area. And Hurricane Melissa is gaining strength once again,
now definitely a category five as it will make landfall
in Jamaica to they some say sustained winds of up
to one hundred and eighty miles per hour. Now they
told me when I came here everything as a West
Virginia tie, and yes this could very possibly as well.

(37:15):
Working on a contact that I guess lived in Jamaica,
moved here to Morgantown, then maybe back to Jamaica. But
we're working on that and we'll keep you posted Metronews
talk Line. Next on the Voice of Morgantown one oh
four point five f M and AM fourteen forty WAJR