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Governor Announces $5M In Grants To Combat Food Insecurity During Pandemic

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

North Carolina communities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic will have access to $5 million in grants to help address food insecurity needs. 

Governor Roy Cooper's office has announced a partnership between The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities and Livingstone College, a Historically Black College based in Salisbury. The organizations will collaborate on community-based programs to provide resources to vulnerable populations impacted by the pandemic.  

According to a news release, almost half of North Carolina households reported only somewhat or no confidence they can afford food for the next four weeks. 

Organizations creating initiatives to provide meals and distribute food to vulnerable communities include Livingstone College, A.M.E. Zion Church, the General Baptist State Convention, and the Conservation Fund's Resourceful Communities program.

For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you're experiencing.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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