These are trying times for people who are food insecure, and that includes more than 3,100 children in Bartholomew County, according to the nonprofit Feeding America.
Our local food banks that rely on donations of food, money and volunteer help are struggling to keep up with soaring demand, as detailed last week by The Republic’s Andy East.
Hovering at a 40-year high, inflation is pinching household budgets. As a result, too many people are having to cut back on food in a community where Feeding America says about 13 percent of residents already lack reliable access to food. When there’s only so much money to go around and the rent or the mortgage and utility bills come due, food often is the household budget item that gets slashed.
Skipping a meal or two here and there so people can afford to gas up the car to get to work has become an everyday reality. East reported that between Love Chapel and Salvation Army, their food banks served 1 of every 13 county residents in March.
“Unless we see a drop in the inflation rate … I think it could get worse,” Kelly Daugherty, executive director of Love Chapel, told East about the near-record numbers of people who are seeking assistance from its food pantry. The same is true of the Salvation Army’s food bank and other local food sources.
Nancy Johnson, social services manager at Salvation Army, said five to 10 new families each week are showing up for weekly distributions.
Divided as we are these days over matters momentous and trivial, may we all agree that we have an obligation as humans to make sure no person, and especially no child, goes hungry?
Here in the most prosperous nation on the face of the Earth, we have yet to master this basic duty to one another. But we’re working on it, and where hunger exists, food banks fill the gap, day in and day out. They have never been more critical to the well-being of our community or more worthy of our support.
The statistic that 1 of every 13 county residents sought assistance from one of our major food banks last month is startling, but there is another way to look at it. The same number tells us that 12 of every 13 of us may be in a position to help make sure that our neighbors have enough to eat.
We salute the volunteers in our community who staff our local food banks, who donate to food drives, and who give money to support these essential services. Those efforts are a blessing to the growing number of residents who make the painful decision to cut food from their household budgets.
And we encourage those who can afford a gift of food, money or volunteer hours to contact Love Chapel, Salvation Army, Gleaners Food Bank, or any local food bank. Ask how you can help.
There are few acts of charity that can make such a positive difference in the lives of people right here in our community, and there are none that hit closer to home.
