Mike Wolanin | The Republic Volunteer Carol Lavengood calls out the number of the next person to be helped at the Love Chapel food pantry Friday, Dec. 2, 2022.
Local food pantries are seeing an increase in the number of Bartholomew County residents turning to them for help with groceries this year as inflation continues to drive up prices and squeeze budgets.
Love Chapel, 292 Center St., served between 1,400 and 1,450 households each month this year, in what Kelly Daugherty, the organization’s executive director, described as “quite the roller coaster.”
By comparison, the organization served an average of 990 families per month last year and 750 families per month in 2021.
About 8,000 people are receiving some form of food assistance through Love Chapel, including care packages and other food programs, Daugherty said.
“We’ve never been in this stratosphere,” Daugherty said.
Additionally, officials at The Salvation Army in Columbus, 2525 Illinois St., said they also have seen an increase in the number of people seeking help with groceries for the first time.
Last month, the organization saw 44 new families seek help with food, which amounts to 120 people, said Nancy Johnson, social services manager at The Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army served a total of 583 families in July, or 1,195 people, Johnson said.
In total, a combined roughly 9,200 people in Bartholomew County sought help for food at the two organizations in July, or roughly 11% of the county’s population, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
The high demand at local food pantries mirrors trends seen around the country as people struggle to make ends meet amid persistently high prices for food and other things.
While food inflation has shown signs of moderating in recent months, food prices still are much higher than they were a year ago. Food prices increased 4.9% from July 2022 to July 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier this month.
A March report by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C., found that nearly one in four U.S. adults reported experiencing food insecurity in December, up from 1 in 5 adults the same month the previous year.
The report also found that nearly one in six adults, or 16%, reported their households received charitable food in 2022, down from 17.4% in 2021.
Food insecurity is described as a lack of access to enough food for an active, healthy life, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In Bartholomew County, about 8,520 people, including 2,030 children, were experiencing food insecurity in 2021, according to the most recent data available from Feeding America, the nation’s largest anti-hunger organization.
Daugherty said “it’s a challenge” to keep the pantry stocked with food, though he is hopeful that demand for food “might be leveling out.”
The organization buys about $30,000 to $40,000 in food per month “just to keep up with demand,” he said.
“We’re keeping up with it from a financial perspective, but I just worry if it continues on over the years how we will keep up with it,” Daugherty said. “For six months to a year, we’re fine.”
