Food banks across the U.S. are reporting a massive uptick in demand as Americans continue to struggle with inflation.
Several food banks told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the volume of requests for food has risen to levels even higher than during the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people struggle to afford their daily expenses.
Many food banks credited the increase in demand for food to inflation, which has cut into real wages and made purchasing everyday goods, including groceries, much more expensive.
"I can say without any fear of being wrong that this is the most amount of people that we've ever seen, including the COVID pandemic," Jerry Brown, director of media relations at St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, which operates in the majority of Arizona, told the DCNF. "Inflation has really brought so many more folks to the edge and needing help." St. Mary's, whose main locations are in Phoenix and Surprise but has around 800 agency partners across the state, had around 1,600 families come to its food banks on Thursday, surpassing the roughly 1,100 on average seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 700 on average before 2020.
Inflation peaked in June 2022 at 9.1% year-over-year, ultimately decelerating to 3.0% for the year in June before picking back up again in July and August.
Due to inflation, the price of food in particular has risen 16.9% compared to two years ago, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has also seen increasing demand for the year, distributing about 34% more food in August compared to January, while the number of people served has increased 13% from January until June, according to data given to the DCNF. "Compared to what I've heard from others, we're treading water, but I would say we're doing okay; we can always use more, but I think we're not in such a challenging situation than perhaps some of our colleagues," Michael Flood, CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, told the DCNF. "Then some of the pandemic-era programs have ended too, which, from what we can tell, has led to some increase in the demand for food assistance starting this past spring."
No comments:
Post a Comment