BATON ROUGE — The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank needs to replenish its inventory ahead of higher demand during fall and winter.

President and CEO Mike Manning said that the food bank has struggled to secure food during the summer.

“Inventory has been going down since the past several months, and it’s probably going to continue that way until we can find a way to right that ship and get more food in here. That’s an ongoing challenge that we’ve been facing for several months,” Manning said.

He said that kids being back in school and in free or reduced lunch programs is helping the organization out with supply issues but it does not relieve them of supplying large amounts of food for many people in need.

Manning said their inventory has not grown much due to the lack of national and local donations.

He said heading into the colder months, they are looking for ways to expand their inventory.

“We are constantly looking to find access to food, we’re purchasing more food than we ever had. Just anything that people can do to help,” Manning said.

Manning said with the help of food and monetary donations from the community, they can achieve their goal of securing as much food as possible.