By John Smist | March 25, 2020 at 10:20 PM EDT – Updated March 25 at 11:06 PM
CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – The worst times often brings out the best in people, and the Veggie Wagon in Carolina Beach is trying to make sure that people on the island don’t go without food.
Owners Max and April Sussman came up with the idea behind “Casseroles for a Cause.”
They wanted to help those who recently lost their jobs because of the coronavirus, and for every casserole purchased online, they will donate one to the Federal Point Help Center.
“I think it’s very difficult across-the-board for everybody,” said April. “For us, we’re rolling one day at a time. But thinking how this [coronavirus] will affect long-term in the community, this isn’t just a short-term thing.”
“Hunger doesn’t have a season,” added Max. “You know, it’s always around. Sometimes it’s your neighbor, sometimes it’s your friend, sometimes its you.”
The Sussmans say once they came up with the concept, from start to finish they had the project up in running in five days.
“We’re still fine-tuning things,” said Max. “But we wanted to get it out as quickly as possible. Because the need for meals is today. Because people are already starting to suffer from the economic collapse around.”
The first day the site was online they took more than 30 orders, meaning more than 30 casseroles will be donated.
“These are going to be frozen meals that the food bank can hold on to for two days, two weeks or two months,” said Max. “There is no shelf life.”
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