Food Shortages Cause Concern for Local Food Banks

I worked extremely hard on this article. It meant everything to me to convey this serious issue in the correct way, and I hope I did that. I like to think so since MANNA FoodBank shared the link on their Facebook Wall!

"Food shortages cause concern for local food banks" as originally published in The Western Carolinian.

"Imagine not knowing where your next meal will come from. You may live in a civilized town or go to Western Carolina University, but with school bills and housing you cannot afford to purchase a healthy, well-balanced meal three times a day.

The food insecurity rate of Jackson County.

For Jackson County, this is true for a number of citizens every day.
According to MANNA FoodBank, who provides food to non-profit agencies in 16 western North Carolina counties, 15.8 percent of Jackson County’s population falls under the food insecurity rate. That is 6,180 people who go hungry, and many of those are children.
Due to the economic and job crises, MANNA FoodBank and The Community Table in Sylva have seen a rise in numbers of how many people need food.
Alison Hixson, director of communications and marketing at MANNA, said that last year 25,196 pounds of food were given to The Community Table, which is a 9 percent increase compared to the year previous. Through the whole of Jackson County, Hixson said there was a 15 percent increase from the previous year of distributed food.
Amy Grimes, executive director of The Community Table, agreed that numbers have risen. Last year, The Community Table served 16,741 meals and provided 2,008 food boxes.
“We are certainly busier, especially in the wake of higher fuel and food costs,” said Grimes. “We continue to see new faces each week, folks needing help with the most basic need, nutritious food, so that they can also afford other necessities of medical care, rent, utilities, etc. Many folks have transportation issues, too. Especially in our rural area this can be a big problem.”

While some say that Jackson County is undergoing a food shortage, Grimes remarked that is not the case but said it falls on other problems.
“Technically, there is no shortage of food in our county, or anywhere in the world,” said Grimes. “The problem is distribution and lack of resources. The economic crisis has sharpened the divide though.
“In 2009, our numbers began to increase dramatically, and they only continue to rise,” Grimes continued. “We doubled the amount of food we provided in one year’s time. That was only possible with community support, for instance Wal-Mart began donating excess items to The Community Table. Without their weekly donations, we simply could not keep up with the need that is out there.”
Grimes added that usually The Community Table sees a slower flow of people during the summer. However, last summer that did not occur for the first time, and Grimes and the staff believe it will not happen again this summer.
Children are the ones who suffer the most as they cannot get the nutrition they need for healthy physical and mental development. The child food insecurity is 26.2 percent, according to the 2012 Map the Meal Gap."

Read the rest of the story HERE at The WC's official website.