As pandemic eased, food insecurity didn’t
170,000 people in region are not sure of their next meal
With low unemployment, inflation improving and gas prices falling, people might assume most Chattanooga-area residents are better off today than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But when it comes to those struggling to put food on the table, the crisis not only persists but continues to affect a growing number of families.
An estimated 40,000 more residents, including an additional 12,000 children, have experienced deepened levels of food insecurity in the past year, according to Melissa Blevins, CEO of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, which sources and distributes food to hundreds of partner nonprofits who work to combat hunger in the region.
That means 170,000 people in the region may not know where their next meal is coming from, Blevins said. The food bank serves 20 counties in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia and operates its own pantry on Wilcox Boulevard that’s open to the public Monday through Friday.
“This is hands down the hardest position the Chattanooga Area Food Bank’s been in from a demand perspective,” Blevins said, adding that the issue of worsening food insecurity isn’t new. “We’ve been seeing this trend happen for the last 12 to 15 months, and the last four months, we saw the demand even creep higher.”
Bess Steverson, chair of the advisory board for the Brainerd Community Food Pantry, said in a phone call that when the pantry opened in October 2020, about 375 families would come to pick up an allotment from 4:30-6 p.m the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, which is when the pantry operates.
As of July, the average number of families served each month had grown to 420, she said. Now, roughly 480 families line up — some as early as 2:30 p.m. — in need of food.
The pantry has reached its capacity, Steverson said, and families are having to be turned away because there’s no food left. And there’s no sign of demand slowing.
“In the past, usually by about 5:40, 5:45 we might have had two or three cars coming through. Now, it just continues. It’s nonstop until six o’clock,” Steverson said.
Steverson said families who miss out on food are directed to either the food bank or 211, a help line operated by United Way of Greater Chattanooga that connects people in crisis to resources ranging from food assistance and housing to employment and health services.
Of the nearly 45,000 calls placed to 211 from Nov. 9, 2022, to Nov. 8, 2023, food assistance was by far the No. 1 request, with more than 59% of callers asking for help buying food, finding places to pick up food or to eat a free or low-cost meal, according to data from United Way of Greater Chattanooga.
Help finding or paying for a low-cost or emergency place to live was the second most common request, with 15.5% of callers seeking housing assistance, according to United Way’s data.
‘A PERFECT STORM’
Early in the pandemic, Blevins said there was widespread recognition of food banks’ and food assistance programs’ importance. That led to generous support from individuals, businesses and government.
Temporary pandemic relief funds allowed states to increase allotments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, and expand other social service support to provide much-needed stability to families, Blevins said. But those additional benefits ended following Gov. Bill Lee’s decision to allow the state’s COVID-19 emergency declaration to expire in late 2021.
In the year that followed, inflation drove food prices up by 9.9% overall, with the costs of some types of food items increasing significantly more, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“As the world started to recover and we reopened, people started thinking, ‘Oh, things are going back to normal,’” Blevins said. “But for families in crisis or families facing chronic food insecurity, the post-pandemic deepened their levels of hunger.”
At the same time, she said, other programs that gave food assistance programs more leeway ended.
“It just started creating a perfect storm for charitable food programs and organizations like the Chattanooga Area Food Bank,” she said. “We saw demand start to go back up at the same time that we started to see grocery prices in the stores start to climb.”
Food prices have grown more slowly in 2023 than in 2022, but the Department of Agriculture report says prices remain above historical average rates. Food price increases are expected to keep decelerating but not decline in 2024, according to the report.
While some food prices have gone down, Blevins said she expects many items will never return to pre-pandemic levels.
“We used to pay 88 cents for eggs, and they went up to $6 a dozen,” she said. “Now, they’re back down to $1.50, but we’re probably never going to see 88 cents again.”
Taking into consideration Chattanooga’s affordable housing crisis and other factors — such as child care and health care costs — Blevins said the cost of living for some households needing food assistance is up more than 40%. Food is typically the first place families look to cut corners when trying to make ends meet, she said.
“They can’t not afford to pay their rent or their utilities or keep their car running, because they have to work,” she said. “Food insecurity doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It doesn’t happen without other factors like housing, cost of living.”
Disparities in food access and grocery store closures have also exacerbated the crisis, Steverson said.
The Brainerd Community Food Pantry was established in part to fill a gap left after the
Brainerd Food City, the former site of a Red Food store and then a Bi-Lo, closed in September 2018.
The area — which is considered a “food desert” because of its limited number of fresh and healthy food options for thousands of residents — lost another grocery when Walmart shuttered its Neighborhood Market at Shallowford and North Moore Road in March 2021.
A Save A Lot grocery store, aided by a $30,000 grant from the city, opened on Dodson Avenue near Glass Street in November 2020 to help address the food desert problem in East Chattanooga. That store operated for less than two years before permanently closing in June 2022.
“There’s just no doubt the food desert thing has to be an issue in that area,” Steverson said.
United Way’s 211 data shows some of the highest rates of callers requesting food come from East Chattanooga.
THE FACE OF FOOD INSECURITY
Blevins said there’s a perception that people who use charitable food programs don’t have a place to live or don’t work. While that may be true in a handful of cases, she said a significant portion of people visiting area food pantries — many for the first time this year — are working families that have a gap between their income and living expenses.
About 80% of visitors to the food bank’s pantry at Foxwood Plaza have had some type of employment this past year, she said.
On Tuesday, Food Bank Volunteer Karen Judd was helping guide visitors — called “guests”
by the staff — through the process of picking up from the food bank’s pantry at Foxwood Plaza.
Families who need food can visit the location once every 30 days and fill their cart with what amounts to roughly $150-175 worth of retail groceries, which the food bank is able to source for less than $30. The process is set up to mirror a supermarket shopping experience.
While she sees all types of people come through the line, Judd said she tends not to talk to people about their situations. Sometimes, though, guests volunteer that information.
“I was talking to a guy who just moved here, and he’s like, ‘I start my job next week, but I have no food right now,’” Judd said. “This was filling in this gap time for him, and then, you have people who’ve been coming for years.”
On Tuesday, Jenny Satterfield and her mother were two of those visiting the Foxwood pantry for groceries.
Satterfield said her mother was a longtime employee at Central Presbyterian Church, where she helped others who were struggling to put food on the table. But now, the two are grappling with the roles being reversed.
Her mother lives alone and is on a fixed income, and Satterfield makes just enough working 12-hour days as a take-outfood delivery driver to pay for gas. After each shift, she takes her leftover money to Walmart, where she buys what she can afford for her next meal.
Since her dog fell ill six months ago and had to go on medication, Satterfield said affording food has become especially difficult. “That’s just one more cost to add to things that I need to buy food with,” she said.
Satterfield doesn’t have kids, so it’s hard for her to qualify for SNAP benefits or other social service assistance programs.
“I’m working, and I need help, bottom line. I work and work and work and still need help,” she said, adding that she wants people to know food assistance isn’t just for people who are considered “low income.”
“Food is food. It’s expensive out there, and this is just such a helpful resource,” Satterfield said.
UPHILL BATTLE
While food assistance programs provide a lifeline for residents in need, many of those programs are struggling to keep up with high costs and growing demand.
Donations of leftover goods from area groceries, retailers and manufacturers comprise the largest source of food supply for the food bank, Blevins said. But those donations are either flat or declining as stores themselves become more savvy and “just in time” on inventory.
“There’s not donations out there that are just begging for food banks to pick up,” she said. “We have tapped that line out.”
Also, the way people eat is changing with the emergence of at-home meal-kit companies, online food ordering and apps, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.
“The way food is moving through the food systems and food channels has disrupted food donations, and we’re going to continue to see that,” she said. “Now, we’re competing with liquidation markets where you’ve got companies that’ll say, ‘Well I’ll buy it for nickels on the dollar.’ Companies are always going to sell it if they can have an opportunity to recoup some costs.”
In the face of declining donations, Blevins said food banks across the nation are ramping up their advocacy to protect government nutrition programs and looking for new ways to procure food.
After donations and other means of acquiring food are exhausted, the food bank looks to purchase whatever remaining food is needed to meet demand. As a member of Feeding America — a nationwide nonprofit network of more than 200 food banks — the Chattanooga Area Food Bank is able to leverage its network to increase buying power.
“A jar of peanut butter, we can get two for what you might pay for it in a grocery store because we’re buying a truckload at a time,” Blevins said, noting the food bank also relies significantly on donations and governmentsubsidized food programs.
There’s also been a shift in the types of food charitable food organizations seek out. Food banks used to focus primarily on shelf-stable items, but Blevins said about seven years ago they began looking more to farmers — a previously untapped resource for food donations.
Because field-grown items are perishable, the food bank shifted to an online ordering system — which Blevins compared to e-commerce company Amazon — to source fresh fruits and vegetables through its network. The organization also works with local and regional farmers and growers to accept donations. In turn, farmers receive a bit of money to offset their harvesting costs, Blevins said.
Now, about one-third of charitable food distribution includes perishable items.
THE ‘WHY’ OF FOOD INSECURITY
When the Brainerd Community Food Pantry opened in 2020, Steverson said the group was able to feed a family for $2.64. This summer, that amount had grown to $5.43, and now it costs just about $5 to supply a family with food.
She attributes the decline in cost to a new program through the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, which is where the Brainerd Pantry volunteers source food, that allows them to acquire free produce.
“We have brought that cost down,” Steverson said, “but that’s because I’ve got great inventory coordinators who know how to work the system, and we’re not having to pay for the produce right now.”
Despite the challenges, Steverson said being able to make life a little better for those in need is what keeps those working to feed the hungry going. But ultimately, she said, she wants society to place more emphasis on addressing the “why” behind food insecurity so pantry lines start to get shorter rather than longer.
“This is a Band-Aid. It’s not a solution,” she said. “We should be able to figure this out because we are a country of so much abundance.”