Words by Smiley Team
In the US, 1 in 9 people go hungry, including 1 in 7 children. Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the country has been mobilising to help make sure no one goes hungry, a task that has become even more important during the pandemic. Usually, the network helps to support more than 40 million people each year through food banks, food pantries and meal programmes.
However, as a result of the pandemic, they have seen both an increase in service demand and a decrease in the stock available. Almost 100% of food banks in the Feeding America network have had an increase in the number of people they serve during the pandemic and yet nearly 60% are facing reduced inventory levels amidst the rising demand.
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, said ‘“Last year USDA reported that 37 million people face hunger in America and the Feeding America network of food banks distributed 4.2 billion meals”
‘This year, the COVID-19 crisis is driving more of our neighbours into food insecurity and putting a strain on food banks to provide more meals. Never has the charitable food system faced such tremendous challenge, and we need all the resources we can get to help our neighbours during this terrible time.’
Between March 31 and April 1, Feeding America found that 95% of food banks reported higher operational expenses and 37% had an immediate critical funding shortfall.
Feeding America launched a COVID-19 Response Fund which so far has distributed $112.4 million and over 94 million pounds of food to food banks throughout the network, helping to provide over 79 million meals.
However, an estimated $1.4 billion in additional resources will be needed over the next six months to ensure their work supporting vulnerable people can continue. This is a 30% increase to the baseline six-month operating costs of 200 member food banks across the US.
There are many ways the public can support Feeding America, including through donations and volunteering. 67% of food banks currently need and are accepting volunteers to help support with the increased demand.
You can find out more about the emergency fund and how to support Feeding American at their website.
By Ellen Jones
