Food insecurity increasing demands on Dubois County food banks

The demand for assistance from Dubois County’s two food distribution centers, Community Food Bank, Inc. and Shared Abundance, has increased to the highest level these two organizations have ever experienced.

“I was here when it (Shared Abundance) was formed,” William Covey, director of the Huntingburg food pantry, said. “In 30 years, we have never experienced this much need.”

The Huntingburg organization, formed by a group of local churches, distributes boxes of food from its Fourth Street location on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Recently, 48 families came in for help. So many cars were crammed into Market Street Park that police were called to investigate by concerned neighbors.

In Jasper, a recent photo of bare shelves at the Community Food Bank inspired many residents, organizations and businesses to help. Some months, manager Amanda Drew spends up to $12,000 to keep the shelves stocked for Dubois County residents needing assistance.

Though donations have increased after she made a desperate call for help on Facebook on March 11, Drew explained that the demand has escalated. “I estimate we have seen a 40 percent increase in demand over the past year,” she said.

She added the problem is also exacerbated as donations usually drop off after the holidays, impacting the available food for distribution. This, in addition to food prices spiking and at least 100 new households seeking help in January, compounded the problem.

“So you have the slowdown in the food donations coming in and the giant increase in the number of clients coming to get food,” Drew said. “That kind of leaves us in a precarious situation of empty shelves.”

“We had 162 families that came through that day in two hours,” she continued. “And it literally wiped our shelves because we didn’t have that kind of back supply of donations that have been coming in to keep the shelves full.”

Covey said Shared Abundance is assisting more families now than it did during the pandemic.

“The increase has been at least three to fourfold,” he said. “We used to serve 45 to 50 families a month, and now we feed that many families in a day.”

At least three to five new families are coming in weekly needing assistance. “I thought we would hit our ceiling, but it hasn’t happened yet,” Covey said.

Shared Abundance hasn’t run into issues with empty shelves yet. Covey credits the food ministry’s operational guidelines in which sales from the thrift store operated six days a week support the food pantry purchases. Covey also points to donations and support from residents, organizations and businesses that help keep them well stocked.

But the increasing demand is concerning for him as well.

“This is going to put a grip on us eventually,” he said.

Covie and Drew point to inflation as a tipping point for many working families. They both emphasized the majority of those receiving assistance have jobs, with some working multiple jobs.

“A lot of misconceptions are that people are lazy, they just don’t work, they want everything given to them for free,” Drew said. “Hands down, the majority of our people are working.”

Covie agreed. With the increases continually growing, the self-professed numbers guy began collecting information to see the correlation because the demand was “unsustainable,” he said.

Shared Abundance had anyone coming in for assistance complete a survey. The survey asked for information like the number of individuals living in a household, their income and where they were employed. They found that that all the needs were valid.

“I’m not a political person,” Covey said. “I am looking at this from the on-the-ground reality.”

Pointing to inflation, he said the economy is driving this.

“People are making more money but are worse off than they have ever been,” he said.

Since viable households typically require two working adults providing income, a couple doing well isn’t necessarily immune from the impact of inflation. Covey said he sees people from all economic spectrums showing up for assistance.

“Because someone got sick in a family and was off work for ten to 12 weeks, they’re now against the wall,” he said. “It isn’t that they make bad choices; things just occurred.”

Another factor that may be impacting demand is the loss of the emergency Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits or food stamps many people were receiving due to the pandemic. Those benefits decreased in May of last year when the Indiana legislation voted to end the emergency SNAP benefits. The federal program is set to end later this month, but it doesn’t impact Indiana residents.

However, the need for those benefits has only increased in Dubois County. In February 2022, 729 households received SNAP benefits compared to 850 households last month — a 16.6 percent increase in households. But another number points to the increasing need, according to the report from the Family and Social Services Administration. Applications for SNAP benefits jumped 159 percent from 52 applicants in February of 2022 to 135 applicants last month.

Meanwhile, the impact of the loss of the emergency SNAP funding increase is apparent as the total spending in the county dropped 15 percent from $370,095 in February of 2022 to $313,909 last month. All this while the number of recipients of SNAP benefits increased from 1,526 to 1,712 in Dubois County.

With the decrease in SNAP benefits, recipients may be going to food banks to cover their remaining needs. Additionally, food stamps can’t be used to pay for paper goods like toilet paper, paper towels or female hygiene products, so the Community Food Bank also attempts to cover those items.

Another at-risk population is the elderly. Though social security saw a big jump — 8.7 percent — in January, it hasn’t necessarily kept up with the compounded increases in costs of everything.

“We have a lot of elderly people come through who, unfortunately, are having to make the choice between food and medicine,” Drew said.

And many elderly who need food assistance aren’t willing to ask for it, Drew and Covey both pointed out.

“People have a lot of pride in our community,” Drew said. “Honestly, I think there are many more people we could be helping that are probably too proud to even show up.”

Covey pointed to many instances in which he will have to prod seniors he knows need help into taking food with them.

According to Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, the state association of food banks, Indiana is 31st in the nation in senior food insecurity, with an estimated 6.6 percent of seniors (age 60-plus) experiencing food insecurity. We’re ranked 42nd in the nation for senior enrollment in SNAP with only half of adults over 60 who experience poverty participating in the program.

She and Covey encouraged anyone needing help to reach out to either organization. Both are available through Facebook here — Community Food Bank and Shared Abundance.

“I would encourage you, if you are struggling, please come,” Drew said. “We’re not going to judge you. We’re not going to speak negatively about you. We’re not going to look down on you because, you know, at any given moment, I think it could be any of us in that situation.”

Both the Community Food Bank and Shared Abundance expressed gratitude for all the residents, businesses and organizations that continue to step up to cover the need in the community and make it possible for them to fulfill their missions.