Newsman: More Americans are in need of help to avoid going hungry amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of children and families living in America face hunger and food insecurity every day. Feeding America which describes itself as the United States’ largest hunger-relief organization encourages volunteering or donating for those who have ability to help.
According to the ‘Feeding America’ statistics, Due to the effects of the corona virus pandemic, more than 50 million people may experience food insecurity in 2020, including a potential 17 million children. Households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity. Before the corona virus pandemic, more than 10 million children live in food-insecure households. Every community in the country is home to families who struggle with food insecurity including rural and suburban communities. Many households that experience food insecurity do not qualify for federal nutrition program and need to rely on their local food banks and other hunger relief organizations for support. According to the USDA’s latest Household Food Insecurity in the United States report, more than 35 million people in the United States struggled with hunger in 2019. And in 2018, 14.3 million American households were food insecure with limited or uncertain access to enough food.
U.S. Census Data released in the week before Thanksgiving reports about 12% of adults living in American households with children received free groceries or a free meal the previous week, according to a survey conducted between Oct. 28 and Nov. 9.
“Food banks have consistently seen a 60 percent increase in demand compared to this time last year, and continue to require more food and resources to provide to people in need,” the organization said in a release days before Thanksgiving.
In some regions of the country, the situation appears to be even worse.
About one out of every four households in Rhode Island struggled over the summer to put food on the table, according to a report released Monday.
Despite federal assistance, 25% of households in the state were worried about having adequate food, up from 9.1% last year and the highest level of food insecurity in Rhode Island in 20 years, according to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s annual Status Report on Hunger. That survey also found food insecurity caused by the pandemic has hit families of color particularly hard.
In Arizona, a two-mile line of cars waited to receive food from St. Mary’s Food Bank when holyday distribution started at 8a.m in Phoenix on Monday.
Jerry Brown, a spokesperson for the food bank, said to news media, the record-breaking number of people would be served in a contactless delivery system that works like “a NASCAR pitstop.”
The demand “shows that a lot of people who used to be donors and volunteers are now in these cars getting food,” Brown said.
Food Bank for New York City, Tracy Morgan, and Council Member Robert E. Cornegy Jr. distribute turkeys to Brooklyn families, Nov. 21. Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Food Bank for New York City
In Ohio, the state’s Army National Guard has held up with food distribution in Akron -Canton region . During a recent drive-through distribution before Thanksgiving, the line of cars stretched for a mile.
Hundreds of people slept, listened to the radio, talked with passengers, or played with their phones and waited. Some of them had been there for more than four hours.
In rural California, food banks are dealing with unprecedented demand as at least one braces for a “food cliff” that could leave it unable to serve clients heading into the New Year.
“The food cliff is looming,” said Nicole Celaya, executive director of Tulare County FoodLink talked to news media “The food system hasn’t done a very good job of meeting the increased need. As COVID numbers continue to rise, it’s going to get worse.”
In Petal, Mississippi, The Petal Children’s Task Force gave away 325 boxes of Thanksgiving food to residents — 75 more boxes than last year, according to Demaris Lee, Petal Children’s Task Force executive director.
“We’ve got a lot of people who have been cut in hours, some that have lost their jobs, and they come to us not wanting to ask for food, but they have to,” Lee said. “That’s what we are here for.”
But the organization is dependent on donations to provide help to those in need.
“We need food,” Lee, said. “We can use all kinds of food. We have a cooler. We have a freezer.”
