Hungry? The competition for food heats up
Hungry?
Let’s start this Sunday morning off with that very simple question: Are you hungry — and if so, do you know where your next meal is coming from?
As the number of people unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic continues to rise, thousands of people here in Connecticut and tens of millions nationwide are unable to answer that question.
But it is a question that nonprofits and for-profit businesses are grappling with as food prices soar, the supply chain is breaking down and the competition to feed people ramps up, according to Nancy Coughlin of Person-toPerson in Stamford.
I spoke with the executive director of the nonprofit on Wednesday during the taping of my podcast “Real Talk, Real People.”
She said the need for emergency food spiked more than 50 percent in April with the nonproft providing food to more than 2,500 “unduplicated families.”
That is more than 160,000 individual meals in a single month and it shows no signs of slowing.
With meat plants closing and truckers unable to deliver goods, getting food into the hands of those who need it the most is challenging because there is only so much food to go around.
“We’re all trying to buy from the same sources,” Coughlin said, “so, there is a little bit of the Wild West mentality going on right now with trying to source food because all the food pantries are trying to purchase and we’re competing against the grocery stores and food is short.”
Coughlin said “It has been a scramble and it has been expensive.”
Sometimes when you talk to leaders of nonprofits about getting basic needs to people during a crisis, it is shocking to learn it is still all about money in a capitalist society.
One of the many troubling images I used to witness on my daily commute to work was the long line outside a food pantry on State Street in Bridgeport.
The line reminded me (and I am sure others) of the pictures I saw in history books of what it was like during the Great Depression when poor people teemed through the streets piecemealing work and charity to feed their families.
There is an old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words but it also can be said that a picture can show that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The only difference I see between the black-andwhite photos of people lined up for food in the 1920s and what is going on 100 years later, is that the photos are now in color and families are lined up in cars.
And one of the country’s largest hunger-relief organizations says the country should brace itself as it is going to get worse.
“We’re looking at an increase of 17.1 million people over the course of the next six months,” Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America, recently told NBC News.
I wish I could say that when readers finish the last sentence in this column, it will provide them with a feast of knowledge that will prepare them for what’s to come in the aftermath of COVID-19.
But it does not.
I wanted to write it because whether they have known hunger or not, Connecticut residents deserve a shout-out for stepping up to fill a void — and I am urging those who can to continue as donations drop.
Right now, their generosity helped fill bags of groceries that they may not know helped their neighbors, co-workers and even friends as the crisis is striking those who have never been on a food line before.
And it is making a difference to the lives of people that Person-to-Person serves in Stamford, Norwalk, Darien, New Canaan, Westport and Wilton.
“In the short run, we are fine because in the short run, the community has really rallied around the need to keep people fed,” Coughlin said. “There are a lot of people who feel they want to be part of the solution right now. They want to do something helpful. They see how drastic the immediate impact COVID-19 has been — and it is such a shock that a lot of people feel moved and compelled to try and make a difference.”
But Coughlin said there are no answers to what the long-term forecast will be.
According to the Connecticut
Food Bank website, it will need an additional $7.8 million over the next six months to provide food to everyone facing hunger, based on projections that the pandemic could push as many as 187,000 more Connecticut residents into food insecurity.
That is a lot of people — including children and seniors — who will be facing hunger.
“We know that people will be in need for a long time, we just don’t know what that is going to look like in the next six months to a year,” Coughlin said.
First it was Lysol, then bleach and then disinfectant wipes that disappeared from supermarket shelves. Then it was toilet paper and paper towels. Those items are slowly making their way back to supermarket shelves
Now, it is all about food — and a race to get to it first.
Hungry? The competition for food heats up.