Volunteers help give out food to area residents Thursday at the West Ohio Food Bank, located on East Kibby Street in Lima.
LIMA — As inflation and food costs continue to soar throughout the country, more families are turning to food banks to stay afloat and put meals on the table. But the food banks themselves are not immune to the recent economic downturn, which has strained their ability to remain stocked and meet the needs of area residents.
Tommie Harner, CEO of West Ohio Food Bank, said the organization has seen a “drastic decrease in food items” this year, caused by rising costs and supply chain issues. The food bank reports that, over the first six months of 2022, it saw 42 percent less food come into its doors compared to the first half of last year.
“We continue to have shipments from the USDA that have canceled from the beginning of the year,” Harner said, leaving the food bank without roughly 50 much-needed truckloads it typically relies on to provide protein items to clients. She added that “exponential” costs have heavily impacted the food bank’s ability to purchase items. For example, a pallet of eggs that would have cost $500 last year now runs upwards of $1,400, according to Harner.
“What we’re having to start doing is really try to stretch the food that we have to provide to our agencies and on these distributions further,” she said.
But it is not just the West Ohio Food Bank feeling the economic impact; food banks state-wide are collectively asking for government assistance.
“We desperately need help,” Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, said in a statement last month. The association, representing Ohio’s 12 Feeding America food banks and 3,700 member charities, is requesting that the state release $50 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to help distribute food to Ohio families feeling the effects of the present economic struggle.
“We are calling on Gov. (Mike) DeWine and members of the Ohio General Assembly to act, with urgency, to help us prevent hunger now and promote stability in the months ahead,” the statement reads.
Harner said that the food bank has been reaching out directly to government officials with hopes to draw attention to the dire call for help.
“We’re hoping to get a meeting with (area representatives) just so we can show them — here’s our empty racks,” she said. A worker at the food bank distributing food Thursday echoed Harner’s sentiments that the stock room was as bare as he’d ever seen.
As the push for government assistance has not yet been answered, the food bank is continuing to exhaust all the resources at its disposal to help meet the demand, from its partners in the private sector and manufacturing industry to individual donations.
“Nothing’s too small and nothing’s too big,” Harner said, encouraging anybody to reach out if able to assist the food bank in its goal of distributing over 9.5 million pounds across its 11-county service area this year.
