GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Food insecurity is a major consequence of the coronavirus crisis. With skyrocketing unemployment and schools shut down, millions of Americans are turning to food banks for support.
Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., with a network of 200 food banks, seven of which are in Michigan. The one in West Michigan reports a massive and fast increase in demand, and that’s the case across the country.
Kenneth Estelle, the president and CEO Feeding America West Michigan said they’ve never seen anything like this.
“We saw in the course of one week, our distribution of food increased, in many cases 100%,” Estelle said. “The number of people coming to a distribution for help increased dramatically, it’s really spiked up. And we've been, since the middle of March, we've seen that amount of food requirement continue.”
At the same time, there’s a significant drop in nonperishable food donations, forcing food banks to purchase more food than ever before. Finding adequate supplies adds to the struggle.
Feeding America West Michigan went from spending $30,000 to $40,000 a week on food, to around $100,000 a week, over the past four weeks.
Estelle said grocery stores previously donated the most, but that’s dropped by nearly 80%, especially in nonperishable products, as they work to keep their own shelves stocked.
Although the banks are falling short on non-perishable foods, he said the current need is met because of an increase in donations of fresh produce from local farmers and the USDA, which is distributed through the Mobile Food Pantry Program. Feeding America West Michigan is continuing to work with the state and federal government to relieve the strain.
Even so, around Michigan, they’ve had to turn hundreds of people away at distributions. The main challenge is anticipating the amount of food needed, be it double or triple what’s typical, but where they fall short, they hold another distribution shortly after.
Instead of volunteers, Feeding America West Michigan has the National Guard helping. For people looking to contribute, donating money is the best option. You can do so, on the food bank’s website.
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