Bay Area food banks seeing increased demand and less support

By: Eliot Pierce

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The holiday season has a lot to offer Bay Area food banks.

First and foremost, there is a larger need everywhere, according to Caitlin Sly, CEO of the Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank.

“We typically see a 20% increase in the amount of people who come to utilize our services during the holiday season,” she stated.

Second, half of the private donations to her food bank are received in November and December, which establishes the tone for the upcoming year.

“This is a crucial moment. “For food banks across the Bay Area, this is truly a make-or-break moment,” she stated.

More so than in previous years. Despite an increase in need, food bank officials reported a decline in community donations and federal help.

The leaders of the region’s five food banks gathered for the first time to raise the alarm together earlier this Christmas season.

Regi Young, the Executive Director of the Alameda County Community Food Bank, stated, “At this time, we’re in a situation where we have to do a lot more with a lot less resources.”

“Our political authorities ought to pay attention to this issue. This is a call to care and to action. Every dollar and every hour According to Tanis Crosby, Executive Director of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, “it does make a difference.”

More individuals than you might think are impacted by food insecurity, according to Sly. Every month, the Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank serves 2.7 million meals.

“We serve a lot of older adults who are on fixed incomes, and with cost of living rising, they can’t keep up,” Sly stated. “Many working families just do not earn enough to cover their expenses. Many kids.

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By the end of the year, she said, her food bank hopes to have achieved a certain target.

By the end of the year, we want to have raised enough money to buy three million meals. “We’re halfway there,” she remarked. “But, we’re about $1 million behind where we were last year.”

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