We’ve been bringing you posts lately about rising food prices and the effect they are having on average families. But many folks at the lower end of the income pyramid are falling off the edge and resorting to food banks to survive. And the increase in demand is placing food banks in a dangerous position…
Together, we can help ensure that everyone in our communities is adequately fed…
Just this past week, we reported that more steep food price hikes are on the way, with no relief in sight until at least the beginning of next year. But already record numbers of folks are turning to their local food banks for help in feeding families. And that’s putting an unprecedented squeeze on the organizations that are trying to help.
Compound double whammy
There’s the rub, as Shakespeare famously complained: Rising food prices not only cause increased demand on food banks, but they also cause reduced donations, making it even harder to meet the need. People who might otherwise contribute to the food bank bin at their local supermarket are cutting back on charitable donations, diverting the cash to food, rent, fuel and other essential costs which are also increasing.
Why are cash donations so important?
One aspect of running a food bank that remains mostly hidden from users and donors alike is how managers ensure that the food packages they hand out provide healthy, balanced nutrition. Food banks plan the contents of their packages carefully, including relatively inexpensive, high-nutrition foods. They can’t control what donors put in the supermarket boxes, so they have to rely on financial donations to buy products they need to round out their packages. Food and cash donations are both down right now.
What you need to know
Think you can’t make a difference in tough times like the present? The food banks have a few simple suggestions to make your effort go farthest.
First, visit your local food bank’s website. They all have one. And they usually post a list, front and centre, of the grocery contributions they need. Make sure that any food contribution you contemplate meshes with their top priorities.
Second, if you can’t do a lot all at once, consider doing a little every shopping day. You might not be able to give a case of macaroni, but you can probably afford to contribute a couple of packs of pasta every week.
Third, consider a financial contribution that is manageable within your personal economy. You probably can’t afford something like $250 all at once. But you probably can manage $20 a month.
Bottom line
If we all give a little, it will add up to a lot. And that’s what is needed here and now. And remember: the longer the current economic uncertainty continues, the more likely it becomes that you, too, will someday find yourself cuing up for a relief parcel at your local food bank…
Muse on that.
~ Maggie J.