Food Insecurity Has Ramped Up During The Pandemic And So Have The Food Banks Meeting That Challenge hppr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hppr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By John Gong | China Daily | Updated: 2021-03-17 07:18 Share CLOSE US Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin speaks at a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on March 10, 2021. In a final vote, the House passed US President Joe Biden s revised $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, named the American Rescue Plan, in the administration s first major legislative achievement. [Photo/Agencies]
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the United States economy, creating a big hole in the job market probably on the scale of the Great Depression. There have been many reports about people without jobs for months now. It is dreadful to see single mothers with children facing eviction and having difficulty putting food on the table.
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Tarrant Area Food Bank workers hand out groceries at Herman Clark Stadium in Fort Worth on Friday, September 11, 2020.
The North Texas Food Bank has served many millions more than it expected to over the last year, and it had to think about how to distribute and acquire that food for its constituents.
Trisha Cunningham, President and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, says the food-insecure families she serves ballooned by 25% in the past year. We’ve provided access to about 120 million meals and our goal for 2025 was 92 million, Cunningham said.
So her organization had to rethink its short and long-range plans. To stay efficient while avoiding physical contact, volunteers packed 25-pound food boxes for families. Unemployed restaurant workers descended on the warehouse to fill those boxes. The food bank upped its wholesale food purchases while grocery chains increased donations.
One Year Into the COVID-19 Pandemic, North Texas Food Bank Reports Significant Increases in Hunger and Response Food Insecurity Increased by 25 Percent, Meal Distribution Increased by 45 Percent North Texas Food Bank Dallas, Texas, UNITED STATES
Dallas, March 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) As the nation takes stock of the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) today disclosed the impact the crisis has had on hunger in North Texas.
Over the past year, food insecurity among North Texans has increased by 25 percent. This reflects a significant rise in those seeking food assistance from the NTFB Feeding Network for the very first time – approximately 40 percent of those served by the organization since the start of the pandemic. These figures reflect the historic increase in hunger across the organization’s 13-county service area. Almost 900,000 North Texans now face immediate and sustained food i