Black Voices

Food Banks Prepare for Increase in Need Over Thanksgiving


Food Banks Prepare for Increase in Need Over Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is expected to be one of the most expensive holidays ever. The American Farm Bureau Federation expects the average cost to be $53.31 that’s a 14% increase from last year’s average of $46.90. The reason for higher costs is largely due to inflation and supply chain issues.

Read: Thanksgiving Dinner To Take Bigger Bite Out of Wallets, National Survey Says

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“We have had such disruptions with supply chain, we’re all feeling the pinch of the rising food costs, but the food depository is doing everything to make sure that we are still purchasing so that we can get food out into the community,” said Monica Moss of the Greater Chicago Food Depository

As the cost of food rises, the need is also increasing. According to data from the Chicago Food Depository, about 14% of Chicagoans experience food insecurity.

“I would say that the demand that we are experiencing is unprecedented,” said Moss, “In the 40-year plus history of the food depository, we have never seen numbers like we have experienced. In just the past year, we’ve given over the equivalency of 97 million meals to households that are experiencing hunger and food insecurity in the Chicago area.

Black and Latino households are at least twice as likely to be food insecure compared to white households. And data from Feeding America shows 24% of Black individuals were food insecure in 2020.This holiday season food banks are relying on the public to meet the high demand.

“Making donations, cash donations are the best because they give us the opportunity to meet the needs of the people,” said Jamil Wright, manager of the IMAN Food and Wellness Center in West Englewood.


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