The summer is never a good season of giving for the Utah Food Bank, but this year summer, donations are drastically low and the food bank will not be able to access an emergency food supply from the federal government. That’s why the food bank is putting out an urgent call for donations.---

“It’s pretty drastic,” says Ginette Bott, a spokeswoman for the Utah Food Bank. She says the summer months are always slow for donations, with many people not thinking about donating until usually around the holidays. But in previous summers, she says, the food bank was at least able to tap into an emergency food supply from the federal government for canned vegetables and fruits, but the government announced in May those supplies weren’t available.

“Not only are we short [on donations] but our problems are compounded by a lack of commodities from the government,” Bott says. “Our inventory is very, very low.” That’s why the Food Bank is putting out the distress call for folks to donate money online to the Utah Food Bank, or bring in food donations to any of their locations, which the food bank will then distribute to the state’s 158 pantries.

Bott also says that there are pre-packaged food bags available to be purchased at any Utah Walmart or Harmons outlet that will be donated to their pantries.