CENTRAL FALLS/PAWTUCKET – It’s clear to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s new CEO Melissa Cherney that the need for food across the state has increased dramatically, as evidenced during her two-week tour of state food pantries and meal sites.

“All of our food pantries are seeing more and more people,” she told The Breeze. “We’re hearing stories that their dollars just aren’t stretching, and that the price of everything is going up.”

Cherney, who began her CEO role in August, said she was also surprised to learn that many families are consolidating their living situations, which means more people in one space and more need for food.

In Pawtucket, Cherney was told by volunteers at the Blackstone Valley Emergency Food Center that they were in need of more cereal.

She confirmed that

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