Food insecurity is rising in Connecticut: ‘Their income can’t get them enough food’
At the Cornerstone Foundation food cupboard-soup kitchen in Rockville, executive director Sharon Redfern has seen a spike, almost double, in the monthly number of people seeking food assistance.
“In January, we gave out food the equal of 12,900 meals. In October, it was the equal of 24,225 meals. The number of individuals served in January was 847. In October it was 1,608,” Redfern said. “Yesterday was the second-largest day we’ve had since the cupboard was opened.”
Cornerstone is not alone. People and agencies statewide that feed the food-insecure report climbing numbers. Many reasons are given: fixed incomes, the rising cost of groceries; the price of utilities and gas, which eat into family budgets, especially in winter; the scaling back of COVID-era governmental assistance.
“A lot of people who were on the borderline, making it paycheck to paycheck, have tipped into troubled area. Now their income can’t get them enough food,” Redfern said. “There’s always a pride issue, but they’ve reached a point they can’t have that anymore. They have to feed their families.”
In recognition of this need, Connecticut Foodshare announced Wednesday an emergency expenditure of $500,000 to supply food pantries and kitchens statewide through the end of the year. This expenditure is on top of the $12 million already allocated for the 2023 fiscal year.
Connecticut Foodshare President and CEO Jason Jakubowski said in a news release that “This not an action we take lightly.
“We don’t dip into our reserves to purchase food unless we absolutely have to. And based on the trends we’ve seen over the past few weeks, we are at the point where we have to,” Jakubowki said. “Emergency food purchases are not something we can sustain in the long run, but at this particular juncture it is without question the right thing to do.”
Basic needs
On the same day, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving announced 27 grants between $3,000 and $20,000 — totaling $263,000 — to Capitol Region food pantries and other agencies that provide personal care items (deodorant, diapers, etc.), utility assistance and other basic needs.
Unlike the Foodshare disbursement, the Foundation’s allocation is not an unexpected emergency measure. It is part of the annual Basic Human Needs Emergency Assistance grants. In July, the Foundation awarded more than $400,000 to 50 nonprofit providers.
Still, Cierra Stancil, senior community impact officer with the Foundation, said that preliminary data the Foundation has collected indicates a broadening of need at centers that distribute basic necessities.
“There are different populations of people coming to the table with needs. We’ve seen an increase in types of folks,” Stancil said. “More folks who are employed seem to be in need of assistance. If that is of the moment, because of economic changes, or if it is going to be sustained remains to be seen.”
Paul Keast, director of development and marketing at St. Vincent de Paul in Middletown, said he sees that dynamic at the food pantry and soup kitchen.
“The ALICE population — asset-limited, income-constrained but employed — that population has been under a lot of pressure. This is a new population of people who are on the cusp of not being able to manage by themselves,” he said.
“Our regulars haven’t gone anywhere, seniors on fixed incomes, people with mental-health issues and long-term addictions,” Keast said. “The growth you can tell by the cars that come in. They’re two, three years old, people are still making payments. Food expenses are now so high they are looking for resources to get things so they no longer have to buy them in the store.”
Stancil added that people of color are strongly impacted by unaffordability of basic needs. The Foundation’s grant announcement echoes that. “Grants are made using an equity lens, acknowledging that many of these issues have a disproportionate impact on people of color,” the news release states.
More SNAP for kids
In recognition of increasing food need, especially among children, the Connecticut Department of Social Services announced on Thursday that $15.5 million in special food assistance benefits will be distributed Sunday to the families of 39,865 children under age 6 enrolled in SNAP. This disbursement will be the last major distribution in the current round of the federal Pandemic EBT program covering the 2021-2022 school year and subsequent summer period.
Jakubowski pointed out that staple foods such as pasta, rice, peanut butter and tuna are particularly in demand, and that the emergency allocation will help bring those foods to the 650 programs statewide served by Foodshare.
Michael Olivieri of Gifts of Love, which has hubs in Hartford and Avon, said those foods are in demand at his pantry’s backpack program.
“They are hard to come by. We distribute almost 300 weekly backpacks at schools, enough to feed a family of four for a weekend. We like to put canned chicken, tuna, peanut butter, pastas, mac and cheese, but sometimes all we can give them is a sack of potatoes. If you’re a 10-year-old kid and you open the sack and there’s just a bag of potatoes, you’re like ‘what?’ It’s something but it’s disturbing.”
The Foundation grant allocations cover a wider variety of items. Of the 27 grants, 17 are primarily for food help, seven are for immediate emergency aid, two are for clothing, shoes and diapers and one is for case management.
Shannon Baldessario, the assistant executive director of MACC Charities in Manchester, said she has seen an increase in demand for dairy products and protein, as well as baby formula.
“People want butter, milk and eggs. We’ve been doing OK. We’re not running low, but we have just enough to get us through,” Baldessario said.
Midwest Food Bank, an Illinois-based food bank started in 2004, opened a Manchester facility in 2021, which now serves about 200 agencies. Joe Koch, a board member and volunteer, said the Midwest food demand is growing more quickly than expected.
“Part of that is attributable to us adding more agencies. But it’s also that agencies coming to us are taking more than they used to. When we talk to them they tell us they’re servicing more people each week. They’re bursting at the seams,” Koch said.
Seniors in need
Olivieri said he has seen a spike in applicants to its senior food program.
“For six months, we have had a waiting list to get into the program that we’ve never seen before. It saddens and angers me that this part of the population, who has paid their dues and raised their families, are now food insecure. This could be my parents, my grandparents. This is unacceptable,” Olivieri said.
He said Gifts of Love has good donors, but “it always seems to fall short.
“Right now things are looking good. With Thanksgiving and Christmas, we’re feeling the generosity, but hunger does not take a vacation. In May or June or July, when you’re going to the Cape for the weekend or to your cottage on the lake, our clients still need to eat. We want people to see the people next door and feel their need.”
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
