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Nearly every corner of North Texas has experienced food insecurity because of COVID-19, and local food pantries have responded with near-weekly distribution events where lines of cars have stretched for miles.
“More than 80% of the food that we do distribute goes out to 200 food pantries throughout North Texas, Hawthorne said. So our ability to support them is very critical.
She said financial support from Congress for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, could help ease the strain on food banks, and the food bank has asked government officials for a 15% increase in the SNAP maximum benefit.
“If we don’t see food bank support in this next stimulus bill, we’re going to have to think of some creative solutions, Hawthorne said. So whether that’s a new partnership that we haven’t had before, or we are just going to have to make up the difference and purchase the food ourselves.
North Texas Food Bank, local pantries prepare to lose millions of pounds of food in 2021
Deep losses from three government programs will result in a deficit of 22 million pounds of food, according to the North Texas Food Bank.
Donated canned goods at North Texas Food Bank on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020 in Plano, Texas.(Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)
The North Texas Food Bank and its more than 200 partners are expecting to lose about 22 million pounds of food next year as they struggle to meet unprecedented needs without resources from three key government programs.
Concerns about the reductions come as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are reaching their highest levels ever and other relief programs are running out, including a national eviction moratorium that is expiring at the end of the year.
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Christmas is a time in which food banks see a considerable uptick in donors and volunteers, but those numbers plummet to normal lows once the New Year rolls around.