Food insecurity is on the rise, and ignoring it won’t make it go away. In states like Iowa, hunger is growing in each of the 99 counties. It’s an invisible issue to many, but your neighbors could be silently struggling to find the resources to take care of their next meal. This month is Hunger Action Month, so there’s no better time to help out those neighbors and bring awareness to the issue. Annette Hacker, chief communications and strategy officer at the Food Bank of Iowa, said food insecurity impacts every community, even if you can’t see it.
“Well, Hunger Action month, it’s a national effort, as you pointed out, and it really is a time to raise awareness and inspire action and help folks to realize that it takes many hands to make sure every person facing hunger gets the food they need. And wherever we are, we can do our part by volunteering and donating and advocating for our neighbors facing hunger. I think, if nothing else, people can stop and realize that food insecurity affects every community and every neighborhood, every county in this entire country, including right here in Iowa, and sometimes it’s kind of an invisible problem, and more people need to know it’s a very real problem. And we can, we can do a lot. We can all do our part to fight hunger.”
Hacker said there are opportunities across every state for volunteers to make an impact in their community.
“So there are pantries right in your own communities who I know would appreciate your help and need your help, not only pantries, but meal sites, daycare, shelters, etc. And at food bank of Iowa, we have two distribution centers as as you know, in Des Moines and a tumult. We have volunteer ships every day in both locations. And you can sign up online at Food Bank iowa.org/volunteer, we’re actually in the throes right now in Des Moines of expanding our parking lot so that we can add additional volunteer shifts and get more folks to come through the doors and engage with us and learn what food bank of Iowa is all about, and help us get more food out The door so we can, in turn, feed more Iowans.“
Food insecurity began to rise again in 2022 after the end of several pandemic-era benefits. The problem was made exponentially worse when the budget reconciliation bill, which made the largest cut to food aid in U.S. history, went into effect. Hacker said there’s one thing they know for sure: the lines at food banks and pantries are going to keep growing without any additional aid.
“We’ve not yet seen the ceiling with the budget reconciliation bill, which was the single largest cut to food assistance in history, we know that will only drive more people to the pantry stocked by food bank of Iowa. We’re already seeing Iowans who have never before visited a food pantry, who are working hard but just don’t have enough money at the end of every month to buy food. We see others who are putting off other bills for basic needs just so that they can afford groceries. And we don’t want to see people do that. So there’s a lot of uncertainty ahead, but we know the lines will get longer, and it’s just really unconscionable to take food away from families who already can’t make ends meet.”
Over the next two years, approximately six billion meals will be lost through the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And while groups like Feeding America are working hard to fill in the gap, they can’t compare to what SNAP can do. In fact, for every meal that Feeding America provides, SNAP could provide nine. As a result, Hacker said it can’t be overstated how much food banks depend on support from the USDA, which is far below normal levels.
“Food banks typically get food through three streams, either from USDA or it’s donated, slash rescued, or you purchase it. USDA right now is about 10% of Food Bank of Iowa’s inventory. In a more normal time, if there is any such thing as normal, it’s 25 to 30% of our inventory during covid. It was half of our inventory. So right now, with less support from USDA and more people who need help with food and food that costs more, we are spending as much every single month to buy food as we did in the entire year of 2019, and that’s really not sustainable for very long.“
While these are going to be difficult times for food banks and pantries across the country, that doesn’t mean that we can all give up on the battle against food insecurity. Food donations are always appreciated, but Hacker said the best way to get value out of your donation is to donate money directly to food banks, as they can stretch your dollar much further.
“Food Bank of Iowa has about three times the buying power that you or I have at the grocery store. So if you’re thinking about buying that can of green beans or or what have. You know that we can buy probably three or four cans of green beans for what you or I would pay for one at the grocery store. Money goes a lot farther. We can feed an Iowan for less than $2 a day, or about 60 cents a meal. And that’s really saying a lot, because even with our bulk purchasing power and buying power, food costs have gone up, and it also costs more to get it here, so our operating costs have increased as well. But we really can stretch $1.96 of every dollar donated go directly to feeding Iowans facing hunger.”