LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The holidays are top of mind for many people right now, and with Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, grocery stores aren't the only ones working to ensure their shelves are stocked.
The Compassion Center is a homeless shelter in Little Rock, and they work year-round to make sure people have what they need and are safe.
"We sleep close to 200 people a night and feed close to between five and 600 meals a day," Compassion Center CEO Pastor William Holloway said.
Holloway said they see a significant increase in the demand for food during the holidays.
"We can sometimes get between 800 and 1000 meals daily," Holloway said.
Right now, they're working to ensure they have enough food to serve on Thanksgiving, but they can't provide without donations.
"We go through 75 turkeys during Thanksgiving, and we go through a couple of 100 pounds of potatoes," Holloway said.
The Arkansas Food Bank is also working to stock up on items for the holidays. Arkansas Food Bank Chief Development Officer Sarah Riffle said they serve over 300 pantries and 80 schools.
"Many of them not only do food distributions, but they do additional meal services, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas," Riffle said.
Riffle said during the pandemic, they saw a 37% increase, and the numbers haven't slowed down.
"We distributed over 40 million pounds of food last year," Riffle said. "We anticipate distributing the same number of pounds this year."
As both organizations expect the demand to increase, they said any help will go a long way.
"There's absolutely an opportunity to help families that need it year-round," Riffle said.
Holloway said the Compassion Center wouldn't be operating if it wasn't for neighbors helping each other.
"If it weren't for the help of our neighbors, there'd be no way possible the Compassion Center could feed this many people," Holloway said.
If you would like to donate to the Compassion Center, you can drop off items at 3618 West Roosevelt, and for more information, you can call them at 501-296-9114.
To donate to the food bank or learn more, click here.