Source: Josh Shaffer, NEWS & RECORD, 11/10/20

 On the corner of New Bern Avenue and East Street, the Helping Hand Mission keeps a small "blessings box" filled with sack lunches and canned corn or chick peas — free food for the needy. Since the pandemic struck Raleigh in March, the mission has watched demand for emergency meals shoot up about 35%, said director Sylvia Wiggins. So Helping Hand added the sidewalk pantry a few months back, knowing it would help people too shy to seek charity — many of them still employed.

For more of this story, click here.