Local food pantries say they are seeing an increasing number of families seeking help with groceries as summer winds down, with projections from the nation’s largest food bank network suggesting that the economic upheaval from the pandemic may have undone a decade of progress on food security in Bartholomew County.
In July, Love Chapel served about 850 families, up from about 800 in June and about 700 in May, said executive director Kelly Daugherty. August numbers have not yet been finalized but were on pace to be the highest at least since the beginning of the summer.
“We’ve had three months in a row that we’ve seen an increase,” Daugherty said. “It’s not a huge increase. It’s just an incremental increase each month. …We’ve gone from like 700 (three months ago) to about 850.”
The Columbus East Food Pantry also has seen more people showing up to its monthly community food distributions, said Greg Lewis, coordinator of the pantry and Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. teacher.
In August, 226 families turned out for a monthly community food distribution at Columbus East High School, compared to 155 who came to a community distribution in late July, Lewis said. Additionally, 150 families turned out in early July for a community distribution that was initially scheduled for June but was pushed back due to a sewage water backup inside the high school.
Lewis said the Columbus East Food Pantry typically sees fewer families come in during much of the summer, with demand generally picking up in August. However, turn-out at the community distribution this past August was around 19% higher than in August 2020.
“At least initially, the indication since we’ve come back to school is that demand is up,” Lewis said.
“We’re a little bit light right now (on supplies) because of this past (community distribution),” Lewis said. “It almost wiped out our stock. Typically, we always have a little bit leftover.”
However, Lewis doesn’t anticipate any problems replenishing the pantry’s stock of food before the next community distribution, which is scheduled for Sept. 17.
Lost progress
The increases reported at local food pantries mirror national trends suggesting that food insecurity persists in the United States even though the country has been clawing its way out of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press reported.
Food banks around the U.S. continue giving away far more canned, packaged and fresh provisions than they did before the virus outbreak tossed millions of people out of work, forcing many to seek something to eat for the first time, according to wire reports. For those who are now back at work, many are still struggling, paying back rent or trying to rebuild savings.
Experts have feared that the economic upheaval from the pandemic could undo progress made on food security in the United States since the Great Recession, according to the The Associated Press.
It took about a decade for food insecurity levels to return to pre-Great Recession levels, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which describes food insecurity as a lack of access to enough food for an active, healthy life.
Data from Feeding America, a national network of over 200 food banks, is projecting that food insecurity in Bartholomew County increased last year to the highest rate in at least 10 years.
Last year, nearly an additional 2,400 Bartholomew County residents — including about an additional 1,000 children — were food insecure compared to 2019, according to the projections.
Overall, 15% of local residents were projected to have experienced food insecurity last year — including 1 in 5 children — up from 12.1% in 2019 and the highest rate since at least 2010.
While Feeding America is projecting that food insecurity will improve this year in Bartholomew County, the local rate will likely be the highest seen over the past decade except for last year.
This year, 13.3% of local residents are expected to be food insecure, including roughly 1 in 6 children, according to the projections.
Despite the improvement, an additional 1,000 residents and 360 additional children in the county are projected be food insecure this year compared to the year before the pandemic.
Before 2020, the highest food insecurity rate in Bartholomew County over the past decade on record was in 2010, when 13% of residents were food insecure.
Last year, several local food banks reported staggering increases in demand for food.
In August 2020, Love Chapel reported the highest one-month increase in demand for food in the organization’s history, serving about 4,150 people that month, the equivalent of around 5% of Bartholomew County’s population, Daugherty said in an earlier interview.
The following month, 550 families lined up in cars to receive food at Columbus Municipal Airport in the latest in a series of monthly food distributions organized by Indianapolis-based Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana. At one point, the line of cars stretched about a half-mile.
Lewis is concerned that some people who need help with food, particularly students, may be “slipping through the cracks” for a variety reasons, including stigma.
“For some students, it might be uncomfortable to have to use the food pantry service,” Lewis said. “…We’re open every Friday after school to students, but we’ve just never been able to get a lot of students to use it.”
Financial assistance triples
But food insecurity is not the only challenge people in the community are facing.
The number of families seeking financial assistance with utilities and rent through Love Chapel roughly tripled last month compared to averages seen last year, Daugherty said.
In 2020, Love Chapel was providing financial assistance to an average of 20 to 25 people per month. Last month, the non-profit helped 67 people, almost entirely with utility bills.
In the past, Love Chapel typically has spent $15,000 to $20,000 per month to provide financial assistance to those struggling to pay bills, rent or a mortgage. But more people are struggling to keep up with payment plans set up during the pandemic.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if August came in at $35,000 to $40,000,” Daugherty said. “…It’s not just the numbers of people, but the amount of help that they need because they’re so far behind.”
And Daugherty fears that things are going to get worse.
Just over a week ago, the Supreme Court allowed evictions to resume across the United States, blocking the federal government from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place due to the pandemic, according to wire reports.
In late August, roughly 4.6 million people in the United States said they faced eviction in the next two months, including 80,800 people in Indiana, according to Census Bureau data.
“What scares me the most is we’re probably going to have (another increase) as the rent and eviction moratorium ends,” Daugherty said.
