This week, both the North Texas Food Bank and the Tarrant Area Food Bank have shone a spotlight on a troubling Texas trend of food insecurity and hunger.
A newly released study from Feeding America’s shows that Texas leads the country in hunger, having surpassed California. This is the second year in a row for Texas to top the list.
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WATCH HEREThe data also shows the DFW area is the third-highest metro region in the country when it comes to hunger.
Around 1.3 million people in North Texas are hungry, which is up 12% from last year. One-third of those experiencing food insecurity are children locally. Food bank leaders blame inflation, among many factors, for driving up the costs of food, housing and other basic necessities.
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SIGN UP "What we've seen is that needs have increased since COVID-19 because of inflation. People's incomes have not risen as fast as the cost of living has," said Trisha Cunningham, CEO of .
More than 60% of our local hunger is in two counties – Dallas and Tarrant counties. Collin County also accounts for a large number of people struggling to makes ends meet when it comes to food.
“It costs more money to buy food, and we're seeing people - children, families, seniors coming to us for the first time because of the rising food cost,” Martha Sotello with the said.
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SNAP UNCERTAINTY
Food banks are also watching a congressional proposal that could cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $290 billion. It’s estimated that SNAP helps around 42 million Americans purchase produce and groceries.
SNAP is a federally funded and state-administered program that serves 3.2 million Texans each year and provides more than $7 billion in taxpayer funding to support access to food for low-income residents.
Some members of Congress say the changes would force states to shoulder more of the costs. But some anti-hunger advocates fear the funding will just be lost, and families will suffer.
"We're very concerned about possible cuts to the SNAP program. We know that that's being legislated right now, and that will be terrible if that happens. It's not only for our neighbors, but also for us, because if those programs get cut, we're going to continue to see the needs continue to rise overall," said Cunningham.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked the US Department of Agriculture on Thursday to grant the state a waiver to prevent people from using SNAP benefits to buy junk food and sweetened beverages.
In his letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Wednesday, that the program was created to increase access to nutritious food and that many SNAP purchases are for food without nutritional value.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, GOP members of the from the SNAP budget and implementing reforms that could require states to fund part of the program while including stricter work requirements for participants. is currently based on income and household size, among other factors.
PLANNING AHEAD
Because of the uncertainties, the NTFB revealed details on Friday of a new five-year battleplan for their goals called "Fulfilling Futures."
Food bank officials said while NTFB essentially met the overall meal gap in recent years, their Hunger Index tool showed about half of the 200-plus ZIP codes they serve did not receive as much food as the data shows is needed.
With the new plan, the food bank is aiming to fill 80% of the need in every zip code, both through adequate distribution of food and through targeted focus on SNAP.
Other goals in the plan include the following:
- Increasing the amount of non-government donated food
- Ensure capable partners exist and are equipped to handle any added capacity in their ZIP code.
- Focus on growing and developing feeding partners that serve ZIP codes with unmet needs.
- Equip feeding partners to add holistic services, such as job skills training or health care.
- Grow grants for partners providing holistic services with the goal of adding 20 new wraparound services across our network.
- Strengthen health care partnerships by establishing FoodRx relationships with 50 medical clinics that are paired with food pharmacies where they can refer their patients.
- Create public reporting on food insecurity trends.
- Intensify fundraising efforts to achieve a 5% year-over-year increase in public support.
- Grow the endowment fund by $5 million.
to read more about the five-year strategic plan.
"There's a lot of uncertainty right now, especially with government support. And I know that a lot of the individuals in our community are concerned as well, too, because this could have direct impact on many of those that we're serving," said Cunningham. "What we need right now is the continued support of our community and of our elected officials, to really prioritize those neighbors that are struggling right now and to help us — either by giving funds, advocating for strong hunger policy, volunteering with us, or just being a kind neighbor to those around you."
For more information on how to support the North Texas Food Bank, .
For more information on how to support the Tarrant Area Food Bank, .
