Tribe to fight food insecurity
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe will help feed 500 local families at contact-free distribution
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe plans to hand out food to 500 local families Saturday amid increased food insecurity in mid
Michigan.
From 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., people can go to the Black Elk Building, 7500 Soaring Eagle Blvd., for frozen and perishable food, said Frank Cloutier, spokesman for the Tribe. The event is contact-free.
The Tribe is teaming up with the Greater Lansing Food Bank to distribute the food amid an increase in local food insecurity attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and higher unemployment.
Before the pandemic, the Compassionate Care Network provided food to approximately 500 households, said CCN Chairman Andrew Miller. These days, at the Network’s four- times- a-month food distribution events at the
Strickler Center, they’re seeing 750 families.
The food distribution by the Tribe is unrelated to the CCN food distributions every second Wednesdays and Saturdays. Both food distributions are within the footprint of the Greater Lansing Food Bank.
That includes 117 new families in just September alone, said Miller, minister of First Presbyterian Church.
One event inparticular sparked much of it, he said. That would be the expiration of federal pandemic assistance dollars added to the state’s weekly unemployment payout.
That has forced some families to make a hard decision, Miller said. With limited financial resources, they can either pay their
utility bills or they can eat.
Food distribution events provide them a way out, they can pay their bills knowing food will be available.
Other local food distributors have also seen an increase in demand, said Annie Sanders, president and CEO of the United Way of Gratiot and Isabella Counties. The United Way has so far been able to help out the Isabella County Soup Kitchen, The Potter’s House Food Pantry and the Little Downtown Pantry, all of which have reported increased demand. A mobile food truck in Gratiot County recently provided
food to 250 families there.
“The need is certainly there,” Sanders said.
The pandemic has also forced some changes to
how local charities distribute the food. Miller said that they lean heavily on seniors and CMU students for volunteers. Health concerns have limited the number of people they can have help.
It isn’t just food, however. In fact, food is number four on the list of things people have requested assistance for from the United Way, she said.
The volume of calls requesting assistance is currently double what it was a year ago, she said. Ahead of requests for food assistance were calls about housing, utility assistance and health care. The percentage of calls made to the 211 assistance line for housing assistance were almost double those for utility bill help from July through September, according to Isabella County 211 report.
People who need help should call 2-1-1, Sanders said.