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Food banks are struggling to provide aid to Americans in need as both demand and costs skyrocket, the head of Georgia’s largest food bank said, urging the government to provide more aid.
“It’s a very humbling moment when you come across someone who is afraid,” Atlanta Community Food Bank President and CEO Kyle Waide told Fox News. “They can’t take care of their family. We see it every day.”
“They have to choose between buying food or paying utilities,” Waide continued. “Those kinds of choices just put families at a real disadvantage.”
Inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in June, but food prices rose 10.4%, according to the Labor Department. Food banks across the country have seen long lines due to increased demand.
FOOD BANKS ARE SERVING MORE PEOPLE AGAIN, SER INFLATION IS CUTTING BUDGETS
High food and gas prices are bringing some families to food pantries for the first time, but providers are struggling with the cost of inflation as demand rises. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“It’s kind of a perfect storm of more demand, more operating costs, less federal support,” Waide said. “It’s really putting a lot of pressure on food banks, food pantries across the country.”
Government aid to combat food insecurity is declining, according to Waide. Funding for federal programs such as the Emergency Food Assistance Program is returning to pre-pandemic levels that do not meet current demand.
“We need the [United States Department of Agriculture] and the administration and Congress to commit more funding to federal commodity programs that provide food to food banks,” Waide said. “We need Washington, Congress, the administration to really find ways to provide more resources for emergency food so that we can provide food to people in this moment of crisis.”
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According to the Ministry of Labour, food prices jumped by more than 10% year-on-year in June. (Photo by John Smith/VIEWpress)
(John Smith/VIEWpress)
According to Waide, in 2021 demand at the Atlanta Community Food Bank decreased after Georgians returned to work following the pandemic shutdown. But the pantry has seen a resurgence this year.
“We’re seeing people turning to food pantries for the first time in their lives,” Waide told Fox News. “The inflationary environment really took a toll on them.”
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“These are people who are used to being on the other side of the line and helping to hand out food to people in need instead of standing in line themselves,” Waide added.
One food bank in Phoenix saw a 78 percent increase over last year, serving more than 4,000 families at its main distribution center in just one week in June, the Associated Press reported. And in Virginia, one pantry exhausted its resources within 90 minutes one day in July, NBC News reported.
Empty shelves before food delivery at the West Alabama Food Bank in Northport, Alabama, USA. Photographer: Andi Rice/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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“It’s more complicated and more expensive for us to meet this growing demand,” Waide said. “We consume more just to get the same amount of food into our system.”
But rising food costs aren’t the only higher costs facing food banks, says an Atlanta executive.
“We’re seeing higher fuel costs for our trucks that are on the road, higher costs for our employees because we’re responding to the same wage pressure that other companies are responding to,” Waide told Fox News. “And this is happening at a time when support from the federal government is declining.”
Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.