Food banks struggle to keep up post-pandemic

AUSTIN – KUT reports that drivers line up down the street to grab groceries from a small, white house in the Dunbar neighborhood of San Marcos. For some time, the renovated house worked for the Hays County Food Bank, but as more and more people rely on it, the food bank has outgrown the space. Executive Director Lisa Young said overhanging tree branches and telephone wires also don’t allow trucks to bring in larger quantities of food. Now, the food bank is moving to a bigger building. “It’s going to be transformational for us,” Young said. The food bank distributes leftover produce, meat and baked goods from local grocery stores. Young said the volume of food the bank sends out has gone up every year since the pandemic. “In 2023, we distributed 1.3 million pounds of food through this little carport here,” she said. “That was a miracle.”

Sari Vatske, president and CEO of the Central Texas Food Bank, said more than 16% of adults and 25% of children in the region are food insecure. This means they don’t know if they will have enough food or where their next meal will come from. At the end of 2023, food insecurity in the 21 counties the Central Texas Food Bank serves — including Travis, Hays and Williamson — was at 14%. That’s slightly higher than the national average, according to Vatske. The phasing out of COVID-19 assistance, like stimulus checks and temporary food stamp programs, has increased reliance on food banks. Inflation has added to the strain. The USDA reports the cost of groceries should go up by about 2.5% each year, with some items like beef and eggs getting even more expensive annually. But prices increased overall by 11.4% in 2022 and another 5% in 2023. “We are surpassing the number of individuals that we’re serving now, beyond at the height of the pandemic,” Vatske said.