As COVID winter months begin, food insecurity grows

“On a recent Friday afternoon, 170 people stood in line outside in cold weather for hours at the Kennett Area Food Cupboard. All of them live below the poverty line. Some of them haven’t worked since the pandemic began. And some often have to choose between feeding their families or using what little money they have for medication.”

This scene as reported by MediaNews Group writer Fran Maye in Chester County is being repeated throughout the region as the pandemic pushes on, disrupting communities with illness and job loss.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.53 million Pennsylvanians experienced chronic hunger every day, including 478,500 older Pennsylvanians and about 437,000 children, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website on food insecurity. That was pre-pandemic.

Now, the numbers of unemployed have exploded nationally and statewide, driving a growing demand on food pantries.

One of every five Pennsylvania workers has now filed for unemployment assistance, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Food banks in Pennsylvania are reporting an average 65 percent increase in demand.

Paula Schafer, director of the MontCo Anti-Hunger Network, hears the need from the food pantries the network helps supply.

At Manna on Main Street in Lansdale, about 552 families apply to receive groceries every week, compared to 275 to 300 families per week prepandemic.

LeeAnn Rooney, executive director of the Patrician Society in Norristown, says demand has doubled from 1,100 families to 2,200 since the pandemic began. On a recent weekday, they provided food to 70 people, 15 0f whom were coming for the first time.

Pantries within the network expressed concerns over maintaining volunteers, possible donor fatigue, concerns about a new COVID-19 variant, and uncertainty of future government assistance as CARES Act funding is expected to lapse.

Schafer said the county network served 8,029 unduplicated households in April 2020, the highest volume month of the pandemic peak last spring, compared to 5,329 unduplicated households served in April 2019. Concerns are that increasing numbers from the fall-winter COVID resurgence may go even higher.

Exacerbating the situation are distancing requirements that make it difficult for the elderly and sick who can’t wait in lines. Distancing and requirements that individuals wear masks while in public complicate normal transportation, especially public transportation.

There is an entirely new set of Pennsylvanians finding themselves in need of emergency food resources for the first time, and both the stigma and the lack of knowledge combine to make it difficult to connect the need with supply.

The resulting concerns are that many are suffering hunger in their homes in isolation.

The problem is not isolated to one agency in Kennett Square or to the pantries of one county.

Hunger is an ongoing and devastating effect of this pandemic in every community. Food pantry officials fear things will get worse before they get better.

The onset of winter will make it even more difficult for the elderly or families with young children to wait in line outdoors in the cold. COVID-19 mitigation measures restrict numbers that can wait indoors. And volunteers who constitute the work force for sorting and distributing food may find it more difficult to get to pantries safely during winter.

For the pantries, added donations of cash or food through the holiday season will help maintain supply. The need for volunteer labor and the need to address transportation and accessibility are more challenging.

As we begin the winter months, know that your neighbors may be experiencing hunger in their households. Reach out and offer food to those who need it — a contactless grocery delivery may be the ultimate act of kindness. In these discordant times, consider easing someone’s hunger as a good way to start the new year.