Media Coverage

Mid-Ohio Food Collective President and CEO Matt Habash recently stared into his warehouse and saw a nightmare scenario for any organization tasked with providing food for those in need: empty rack after empty rack.

The sight was in stark contrast to the abundance the food bank had available when COVID-19 raged around the globe and right here in Greater Columbus.

Food insecurity during the height of the pandemic and food insecurity now are two different beasts.

New faces, longer lines and empty shelves: Ohio's hunger-fighting network is sounding the alarm as it faces unprecedented challenges.

At the Southeast Ohio Foodbank in Logan, Director Rose Frech said with inventory at about 15% of capacity, they're struggling with severe food shortages. That's forced them to make difficult decisions, she said, such as canceling direct mobile food distributions.

"The real heartbreak is people came to rely on us for food for their families," said Frech. "To no longer be available to those folks in need - it's just frankly devastating."

CEO of the West Ohio Food Bank Tommie Harner said at the same time, there's been a spike in the number of people in need of food assistance.

"Many of them are struggling with rising inflation, the cost of fuel, the increased cost of food," said Harner. "And you go to the grocery store and many of the items are not available."

This Older Americans Month, we urge lawmakers to acknowledge the demographic shifts well underway in states like Ohio and continue to build out sound public policy improvements and investments to support older adults as they strive to age in place with dignity and security.

Every Ohioan deserves to feel well-nourished and to have their basic needs met, from their first year of life to their twilight years.

One reason people aren’t getting enough to eat, Hamler-Fugitt said, is that their incomes don’t come close to keeping up with inflation. Since many monthly expenses are fixed, people scrimp on things that aren’t, she said.

“The one area of your budget you can cut is your food budget,” she said.

For three months, Johnathon Gillespie's pride kept him from seeking out a food pantry to stay fed.

The 22-year-old said he got out of the United States Army about a year ago, and not long after got a place with his fiancé, Neleah McDowell, 19, on the Southeast Side. But when their rent went up beyond their means, the couple ended up homeless.

At first, the thought of visiting a food pantry wasn't something Gillespie said he could stomach. But that pride?

When schools shut down in March 2020, nutrition programs stepped up.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted seemingly endless waivers for schools to keep students fed — allowing them to feed every child, regardless of the family’s income, and take food off-site, as congregate settings weren’t safe with a largely unknown virus moving through the country.

And in the weeks and months that followed, childhood hunger decreased.

Data released last month from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey showed roughly 20 percent of at-risk households with children reported food insecurity in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as those nutrition programs expanded, that number decreased by about 7 percent by last summer.

Eleni Towns, associate director of the No Kid Hungry campaign, said community and school food programs were able to transform to meet the needs brought on by the pandemic.