ACFB’s services have been in heightened demand since the pandemic. Demand for SNAP benefits increased when the pandemic hit and the food bank helped clients navigate the process. “We had to grow our distribution volume by 70% virtually overnight,” said Waide.
Government aid programs helped the food insecure, but a variety of stimulus programs have since been discontinued. Emergency SNAP allocations (about $95 a month in benefits) ended in Georgia nearly one year ago. The Child Tax Credit, part of the Rescue Plan, also expired. Congress ended the free-lunch-for-all program last June. Along with these discontinuations, food provided to food banks by federal resources also declined.
“To make up the difference, we’re serving the same number of people and providing the same amount of food as we were during the height of pandemic, and we are doing it with less federal food support,” Waide said. In some cases, the food bank buys close to $2 million a month of food.
With a decrease in government aid programs and the rising cost of food due to inflation, food bank lines are getting longer. There are now about 200,000 households accessing food from the ACFB network each month. “The total population in our 29 counties is a little more than six million and the average household size of people coming to see us is about three,” he said. “So, we are serving 600,000 a month, 10% of the population, which is crazy to think about, and that’s 40% higher than what it was 15 months ago.”
How does ACFB define a food bank “meal”? “When we talk about meals, we’re talking the equivalent of a meal based on estimating the volume of food and how many people that food feeds,” Waide said. That one billionth meal could have been enjoyed at a senior center, a school cafeteria, a community pantry, healthcare center or a mission.
“The majority of people who get food from the food bank are…
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