Food banks already concerned about inflation’s impact on growing food insecurity this fall, winter
August 6, 2022 | Kevin Haggerty
The ramifications of President Joe Biden’s economic policies continue to ripple out and while his administration touts small measures to provide “breathing room,” there are serious concerns that some families already struggling will be facing greater food scarcity.
Feeding America began in 1979 and is considered the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief charity and its president and Chief Operating Officer Katie Fitzgerald recently spoke with Fox News Digital to address how inflation is creating more issues in the supply chain than the COVID lockdowns had. In fact, she lamented that normally readily available goods like Turkeys ahead of the holidays are already difficult to procure and many will miss out this Thanksgiving.
“The crisis that we’re seeing right now is, in our judgment, in some ways worse than what we saw at the height of the pandemic,” Fitzgerald told Fox News Digital. “We don’t see the root causes in terms of food insecurity [being] the same as when the economy essentially was shut down…that was more driven by people losing their income.”
Instead, she explained, “it’s simply that people are having to make economic tradeoffs. And what they’re having to cut is their food, when everything’s so much more expensive.”
As previously reported, the nonprofit group of organizations West Health commissioned a survey by Gallup that found among the lowest income earners, 62 percent were taking multiple steps to combat inflation that included skipping meals and postponing medical care. Dan Witters, a senior researcher at Gallup stated, “Inflation is hollowing out consumer spending habits across an array of areas. What is found just under the surface is that after gas and groceries, the role of inflation in reducing the pursuit of needed care is large and significant. And the rising cost of care itself, which is originating from an already elevated level, is having an outsized impact on lessening other forms of spending, compounding the problem.”
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https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/08/06/food-banks-already-concerned-about-inflations-impact-on-growing-food-insecurity-this-fall-winter-1270554/