Food insecurity is up in Summit County, according to food bank leaders. Leaders from four food banks met Thursday at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank to discuss how to meet the increased need.
Akron's North Hill Community House, one of the groups in attendance at the roundtable discussion organized by the Akron Community Foundation, runs a monthly food pantry. President Gary Wyatt said he’s recently seen a growing need in the community.
“There’s been a big influx in the last couple months, in particular last month," Wyatt said. "We’ve seen over 25 new families last month, and that’s huge.”
Food insecurity is not rare in the Buckeye State. More than 1.3 million Ohioans are facing hunger and more than 300,000 of them are children, according to Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization.
The county-wide increase is being caused by many factors, including rising costs for food, said Katie Carver Reed, vice president of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, which also attended the roundtable as did Let’s Grow Akron and the Barberton Area Community Ministries.
"It feels like your cart's less full for the amount of money you're spending at the grocery store," Carver Reed said, "so certainly the cost of food is a factor."
Rising food costs aren't the only thing putting pressure on budgets, she added.
"The rising cost of housing, the rising cost of utilities is something families are citing as well," Carver Reed said. "It costs more to put gas in your car. It costs more to heat your home. It costs more for rent."
Carver Reed also pointed to less government assistance as contributing to the problem.
“Also, something driving this is the end of pandemic era benefits which happened earlier this spring," Carver Reed added.
This is putting low-income residents in particular in a difficult situation, she said.
"People that are already making the least that were eligible for public benefits are getting less," Carver Reed said, "so that stretches less than it used to."
The Akron-Canton food bank has seen a 34% increase in visits this year compared to last year, Carver Reed said. The increased need for food and rising food costs are also putting pressure on the foodbank, she said.
“It continues to be a bit challenging to get food donations because the supply chain hasn’t quite right sized itself," Carver Reed said. "But also procuring food is more expensive than it was before the pandemic.”
This is making it more difficult for the foodbank to buy food to give out, Carver Reed said.
Carver Reed encouraged the community to destigmatize using the food bank, adding that it's OK to ask for help.
