Albany, N.Y. – A woman recently called The Food Pantries for the Capital District’s food access referral line to ask for help. She had just recertified for SNAP, previously known as food stamps, and her benefit had been decreased by half. She didn’t know how she was going to make ends meet for her family. Another man called explaining that he was a veteran who had previously been homeless for 18 months and now had a stable apartment. He has bad knees and was currently testing how far he could walk to get to a food pantry and needed to know what resources were in his neighborhood.
These are just two examples of the reality of the challenges thousands of community members are facing just to put food on the table. Here in New York’s Capital Region approximately 69,000 individuals visited members of The Food Pantries for the Capital District for food assistance in 2023. The USDA just released the Household Food Insecurity in the United States in 2023 report and the numbers are increasing.
The study found that 13.5 percent (18 million) of U.S. households were food insecure, meaning they had difficulty at some time during the past year providing enough food for their family because of a lack of resources. The 2023 prevalence of food insecurity was higher than the 12.8 percent recorded in 2022 (17 million households), up from 10.2 percent in 2021 and 10.5 percent in 2022.
In addition, rates of food insecurity in 2023 were higher than the national average of 13.5 percent for the following groups:
All households with children (17.9 percent)
Households with children under age 6 (17.9 percent)
Households with children headed by a single female (34.7 percent) or a single male (22.6 percent)
Women living alone (16.2 percent)
Households with Black, non-Hispanic (23.3 percent) and Hispanic (21.9 percent) household reference persons
Households with incomes below 100 percent of the poverty threshold (38.7 percent), incomes of 130 percent of the poverty threshold (37.3 percent), and incomes of 185 percent of the poverty threshold (33.5 percent)
Households in principal cities (15.9 percent) and rural areas (15.4 percent)
Here in New York State, 12.3% of households experienced food insecurity last year. While this number alone is alarming, food pantry members of The Alliance for a Hunger Free New York have reported service level increases of 20 to 100% year over year (2022-2023) across the state. In the Capital Region local food pantries are continuing to see increases in service levels, with 29 percent more visits in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
“This hunger crisis is impacting a significant group of our community members, from families with children and veterans, to older adults and those who work at low wage jobs that aren’t keeping up,” said Natasha Pernicka, executive director of The Food Pantries for the Capital District. “It is imperative that our Federal and State government take action to reduce hunger. Hunger impacts an individual’s health, school and work performance, the toxic stress of not being able to make basic needs, and more.”
According to the United Way’s ALICE report, 46% of New York State households do not have enough resources to afford the basic cost of living. The larger ramifications for our society are increased health care costs for preventable illnesses, school and workforce issues, and more.
“Federal food assistance programs have been designed to be supplemental programs, with the assumption that people have other resources. That just is not the case for far too many people. When there is nowhere else to turn, when SNAP and other resources just don’t stretch far enough, people turn to community food pantries,” said Pernicka.
Increased community need, coupled with inflation and charity dollars not keeping up, means many food pantries are stretched thin and need additional support. Food pantries in the Capital Region were surveyed this summer by The Food Pantries for the Capital District and named funding, volunteers, and food supply chain as the top three challenges they were facing.
Members of The Food Pantries for the Capital District are worried about having enough funding to serve their clients through the end of the year. Sara Adams of Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region said earlier this year, “Our pantries have seen an increase of approximately 20% in service requests compared to 2022. Enhanced support is urgently needed to ensure our pantries can meet the need sufficiently.”
Marcia Dudden of Living Hope UMC Food Pantry in Waterford said,” With the dramatic increase in food prices and the reduction of SNAP benefits at the end of February 2023, we have seen a significant increase in the need for food assistance - both in the number of new families asking for our service and in the number of times per month already registered families are asking for additional service. Where we once provided food pantry bags once a month, many families now need them several times a month and even weekly. Even with the help of these excellent programs, however, the need for food assistance is greater than the current resources available.”
Angelo Calbone of LifeWorks in Saratoga adds, “Just as inflation is affecting our neighbors, it is also affecting our pantries. LifeWorks is now seeing a demand for our pantry services three times the level it was pre-pandemic.”
To learn more about how to get involved or to find a local food pantry visit www.thefoodpantries.org or call (518) 458-1167.
About The Food Pantries for the Capital District
The Food Pantries for the Capital District is a coalition of 70 food pantries in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties working together to feed the hungry.
Coverage on Spectrum News here
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