Is cost of food forcing hard choices? Tell us

In the Inland Empire, roughly 400,000 people don’t have access to enough healthy food daily, according to Feeding America Riverside San Bernardino.

Many are considered food insecure, defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as lacking access to enough healthy food for all members of a household.

Some live in parts of the region known as food deserts, communities where people live more than 1 mile from a supermarket in urban areas, or more than 10 miles in rural areas.

Made up of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the Inland Empire is one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions, with a population of more than 4.6 million people. The latest U.S. Census Bureau data shows the Inland Empire added 47,601 people in the year that ended July 2021, the fifth-largest gain among the country’s 50 largest metro areas.

Still, food insecurity is prevalent, and access to healthier eating options is limited for many and becoming more expensive.

Many can’t keep up with the rising costs of food and are feeling the pinch of inflation. The price of food has spiked 10% compared with last year, according to the consumer price index, forcing some households to make tough decisions when it comes to food.

How has your family been affected by this? Is getting enough food a problem you’re facing? Is it more difficult to feed your family three healthy meals a day? How are you making it work? What resources would help?

We want to hear from you.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Sun, The Press-Enterprise and Redlands Daily Facts are working on a series of stories about hunger and food access in the Inland Empire. Your responses will help shape this project and lead to finding real, viable solutions to food insecurity.

Any information you share here will remain private unless we talk with you and receive your permission to use your name.

To share your personal experience, please email Javier Rojas at jrojas@scng.com

Or take a brief survey available at bit. ly/3NSeJZM.