BATON ROUGE - An anonymous individual has pledged to match donations to the Greater Baton Rouge food bank for the remainder of the year. 

The donor, who has chosen to remain nameless, will match any cash donation to the food bank, leading up to $100,000. 

“We have a mystery donor that pledged over $100,000 dollars to match gifts throughout the end of the year. It’s a tremendous opportunity,” said Mike Manning, President and C.E.O of the Greater Baton Rouge food bank. 

As a way to generate higher donations, the mystery donor will reveal his or her identity to anyone who chooses to gift $5,000 or more to the food bank. 

“Just a little something different just a little tweak to normal anonymous matches, this donor is willing to reveal themselves to let individuals know who he is,” said Manning.

The economic impacts of the pandemic have caused countless families to rely on the food bank for meals. Next year, it is estimated that half as much food will be available, while demand is anticipated to increase over 60 percent in comparison to before the pandemic. 

“It’s really a challenge for us going into next year. We’ve gotten a lot of governmental food product this year, but next year we don’t know that that’s going to be available so we’re going to have to replace all that food because that demand is gonna continue, because there’s so many people still out of work," said Manning.

Those interested in donating can click here.