{"id":120302,"date":"2021-11-14T18:08:03","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T01:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120302"},"modified":"2021-11-14T18:08:03","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T01:08:03","slug":"food-banks-struggle-to-feed-hungry-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/14\/food-banks-struggle-to-feed-hungry-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Food banks struggle to feed hungry Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy RT<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

\n\nFood banks across the United States are struggling to keep up with the number of Americans in need of assistance amid record inflation and the supply chain crisis, which have gripped the nation ahead of the holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alameda County, California Community Food Bank was forced to make a lot of really tough choices\u201d<\/em> due to inflation and the rising costs of food, its executive director, Regi Young, told<\/a> NPR on Saturday. With prices spiking for some core food items,\u201d<\/em> such as fruit, vegetables, and canned meats, he said the bank was forced to stretch their budget as much as possible to ensure that families in our community have the food that they need.\u201d<\/em>READ MORE: <\/strong>Biden admits prices \u2018too high\u2019 & promises to save Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food banks are also being crippled with transportation issues and lengthy delivery times. Last year, we were able to get things from about two to three weeks. However, today, we have to really double that time frame,\u201d<\/em> Young said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing inflation and supply hiccups are especially painful ahead of America\u2019s upcoming holiday season, with some food banks already resorting to giving out chicken, fish, and other meats for Thanksgiving instead of the traditional turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to put it in perspective, last year, we did anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 turkeys, and, this year, I have five in my freezer,\u201d<\/em> said<\/a> Tracey Engel, director of Arkansas\u2019 River Valley Regional Food Bank on Friday, adding that food deliveries are now taking up to four months\u201d<\/em> due to the huge rise in transportation costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not because there\u2019s no turkeys, it\u2019s that the turkeys are in the wrong places at the wrong time,\u201d<\/em> an agricultural economist at Michigan State University, Trey Malone, explained<\/a> to Vox earlier this week, dismissing the term shortage.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing a rise in Americans seeking assistance over the Covid-19 pandemic, food banks are increasingly<\/a> calling<\/a> for more volunteers and donations to meet the heavy demand<\/a>.READ MORE: <\/strong>Carbon foodprints? The ruling class’ plan to change what you eat<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeding America COO Katie Fitzgerald warned<\/a> this week that food insecurity\u201d<\/em> for those in need has gotten worse and that food banks across the country will be unable to absorb the costs for much longer. Fitzgerald \u2013 whose organization oversees more than 200 food banks in the US \u2013 called the shortages an insult to injury\u201d<\/em> to struggling families who have already suffered so much over the past few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Joe Biden has been widely criticized for his perceived failure to rein in the country\u2019s inflation, with even CNN calling<\/a> it a political nightmare\u201d<\/em> for the 46th president. The cost of living in the US has risen by a two-decade record 6.2%, according to a Department of Labor October report. Goldman Sachs recently warned that inflation will likely get worse before it gets better,\u201d<\/em> and even Biden himself admitted that the prices are too high.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy RT Food banks across the United States are struggling to keep up with the number of Americans in need of assistance amid record inflation and the supply chain crisis, which have gripped the nation ahead of the holiday season. The Alameda County, California Community Food Bank was forced to make a lot of really tough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}