One Fayetteville church said the increasing demand is making it harder to curb that hunger.
"Each shelf is labeled. This would be bagged beans, this would be soups. This would be fruits, canned fruits and that sort of thing."
Steve Hill of Highland Presbyterian Church said last year, the church's pantry shelves would normally be packed with two months of food. The church partners with Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina to donate groceries to families in need. But since hunger in the Sandhills has been skyrocketing following the pandemic, Hill can't remember the last time the shelves were fully stocked.
"Part of our food pantry program to supplement that is the purchase of rice and beans. And we do that in 50-pound bags and then repackage it to 1-pound bags. Because we can our food, our money will go a lot further."
The Foodbank of Central and Eastern North Carolina said more than 560,000 kids, adults, and seniors in central and eastern North Carolina don't know where their next meal might come from. According to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina, one in four children in the Sandhills area faces hunger.
Food bank leaders said because more families are in need of food, there's been less to go around.
"You always want to be able to give them a sufficient amount of food, make it through a week and stuff. And there have been times that we have had very little and you just hope that they're able to get through with what we have," said Donna Hunt, a volunteer with Highland Presbyterian.
Hill and Hunt said local businesses and members of the congregation have been stepping up by donating more food. They encourage others to pitch in.
"Any time there's an opportunity to participate in the food drive and make donations, hopefully people would be committed to that," Hill said.