Hunger is raging amid the pandemic
Ohio’s safety net will fail if food banks must face the crisis alone
It’s been over 200 days, or some seven months, since Gov. Mike Dewine signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in Ohio to protect the well-being of Ohioans from the dangerous effects of COVID-19. Since then, nearly every aspect of our daily lives have been upended by the outbreak that knows no limits and does not discriminate.
Amid these unimaginable conditions, demand for food assistance is up. In fact, more people than ever are struggling to put enough food on the table.
Ohio’s statewide hunger relief network, the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which comprises 12 Feeding America member food banks and more than 3,500 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, has borne witness to the immediate and immense ramifications of this public health crisis. Since the start of COVID-19, food banks have experienced extraordinary increased demand for food assistance as people struggle to make ends meet amid historic unemployment and a 50-year high for grocery prices.
It has not only taken a toll on public health, but has also resulted in an economic crisis, leaving millions of lowand moderate-income Ohioans unemployed, underemployed, without income and struggling for the most basic of all human needs – access to enough food through normal channels to feed themselves and their families – many for the first time ever.
Today, 30% of Ohio households report they are having difficulty covering usual household expenses, including their rent, mortgage, utilities, medical expenses and food. Feeding America estimates that nearly 1 in 5 Ohioans (18.1%) – including more than 1 in 4 Ohio children (27.1%) – have experienced food insecurity in 2020. Unfortunately, Ohio is tied for the 10th-highest rate of overall food insecurity in the country, with rates far higher than even at the peak of the Great Recession.
Across the state, we are distributing more food at faster rates to more people than we ever have before. And now, more than 1 in 5 of the people we serve in Ohio are over 60. In fact, we served senior citizens nearly 400,000 more times in state fiscal year 2020 than in the prior year.
As the need for help with food climbs, private sector food donations from industry partners, local food drives and retail pickup programs have dwindled – forcing our network to purchase more food and groceries to replace these donations – often at much higher prices. Additionally, many of our food pantries are run by volunteers who continue to shelter at home as COVID cases surge. Many are housed at churches and places of worship that have had to limit services to the public.
Ohio National Guard members have been a critical lifeline for our food banks during the pandemic, but their mission is on track to end soon, leaving food banks in potentially dire situations.
Without action from Congress, in early 2021, food banks will lose about 50% of the foods they are currently receiving from USDA – a dramatic decrease of about 1.1 billion pounds nationwide – during a time when there is no end in sight to the nation’s public health and economic crises.
In addition to boosting SNAP benefits to offset record high grocery prices, we need more food purchases by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that we are doing what we can to fight hunger. Congress and the USDA must ensure food banks do not witness a dramatic decline in the food needed to support the millions of people we serve.
It’s time for Ohio’s elected leaders to protect every citizen’s access to healthy, affordable food and to make a commitment that no Ohioan should go hungry. The need for help is now; it can’t wait. Stop the suffering.
Lisa Hamler-fugitt is executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. Lisa@ohiofoodbanks.org