While the state’s political leaders would be thankful for a framework that merely starts serious negotiations on the four-month-overdue budget in the coming weeks, the Chester County Food Bank is worried thousands of residents may go hungry this Thanksgiving.

Heavily dependent on state funds that are currently tied up in the political mess the Chester County Food Bank–which provides food to 32 food cupboards–is banking on community donations during their annual ”Thanksgiving Food Drive’. It’s the food bank’s most important drive of the year, and without any sense of when state funding will arrive they’re pushing extra hard to make this their most successful drive yet.

“Providing food for Chester County’s hungry families well into the holiday season is going to be a major challenge for us,” said Anne Shuniak, Director of Community Engagement at the Food Bank, “we’re asking everyone to step up and give whatever they can to help us feed hungry families all over the county”.

As the negotiations continue, school districts are operating on borrowed cash and nonprofits across the county continue to operate in a cloud uncertainty. To make matters worse, this year is also turning out to be an expensive Thanksgivings for families. The Avian bird flu has decimated turkey populations nationwide, driving the price per pound of turkey way up, and torrential rains in Illinois have destroyed most the canned pumpkin pumpkins.

That means the Food Bank’s dollar isn’t going to go nearly as far as it has in years past. But this isn’t the first time the Food Bank has managed a crisis. In 2009, the Food Bank was able to weather a similar budget stalemate because of support from the Chester County community.

“I’ve been doing this for many years now, and every time something like this has happened the community has stepped up–I have no doubt that donations will come in and we’ll get through this,” said Larry Welsch, Executive Director of the Food Bank.

If you’re interested in supporting the families who have less on their plates, consider donating to the Chester County Food Bank as soon as possible, says Larry Welsch, “we need help from the community and we need it now.”

You can find more information about the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive by visiting the Chester County Food Bank online.