High inflation in the US hits even those who help the poor

High inflation in the United States, at highs not seen in 30 years, not only hits the poorest families and children in the country, but also the food banks that help them and who now fear they will not have enough to continue doing so.

Rising prices endanger those who already have difficulty accessing food, a population of 45 million people, 15 million of whom are children. In other words, one in five children in the United States is hungry, according to the Feeding America organization, which runs 200 food banks.

Feeding America and other NGOs have been warning for weeks of the challenge that inflation poses for food banks, which have had to give smaller portions or substitute classics like turkey and peanut butter for cheaper options in the deliveries they have made for Thanksgiving, which is celebrated this Thursday.

The DC Food Project, which helps school-age children in Washington, hasn’t had to cut its donations yet, but it has struggled to find protein-rich foods that fit within its budget, explained Lucie Leblois, a of the founders.

“Of course, the price of protein has risen. So we are trying to get creative”Leblois said while preparing boxes with food in the parking lot of a school that they will take to different educational centers.

Canned chicken and tuna packets have become the best options for those boxes that 750 children receive every two weeks in Washington schools. Each box has a value of US $ 15 and the goal is to feed a family of four for ten days.

From pandemic to inflation

Despite the increase in prices, what worries Leblois most is the hunger that many African American and Hispanic children go through in Washington, one of the richest cities in the country but where there are enormous economic inequalities depending on skin color.

The main food bank in the US capital, the Capital Area Food Bank, went from distributing 30 million meals before the pandemic to 75 million.

In the case of Washington children, before the pandemic, one in five had difficulty accessing food, the same as the national average; but now, they are one in three.

Due to this high level of need, most public schools offer free breakfast and lunch to children, in addition to dinner in some cases.

However, there is a danger that little ones will not be able to access food when they are at home for the weekend or during holidays like this week of Thanksgiving.

To fill that gap, DC Food Project has taken on the mission of every two weeks to prepare boxes of provisions in a school parking lot and then deliver them to children throughout the city.

Preparation takes a couple of hours. First, trucks with food donated by Spanish chef José Andrés’ DC Central Kitchen arrive at the parking lot, and then the founders of the DC Food Project and a group of volunteers unload the trucks to distribute the food in boxes and bags.

Each volunteer puts those packaged foods in their car – until they can barely be seen from the back – and the delivery begins.

An uncertain future

Food is not delivered directly to those who need it, but rather to educational staff in an attempt to preserve the dignity and privacy of minors. For example, when students arrive at Ida B Wells and Coolidge schools, all the students see is a car carrying the DC Food Project orange boxes coming through the front door.

Jacobo Larios, of Guatemalan origin, works in these schools and his mission is to help children with everything that is not food: from notebooks to detergent to diapers, coats and gloves.

“Aside from the pandemic, inflation is hitting families the hardest. They cannot meet the basic needs they have right now and it becomes more difficult for them. That’s where my program comes in to try and counteract those kinds of needs.”Said Larios, who works with the NGO Centro Latinoamericano de la Juventud.

Larios himself goes to buy the goods that he then distributes to the students and has noticed how the formula and other baby foods have risen, the price of which has grown 7.9% in one year, according to US government data.

When asked if he has had to stop buying some products, Larios laughs, rubs his hands and says no. For now, the donations have served to withstand the rise in prices.

However, his students are already feeling the blow of inflation and he worries that the situation will get worse, as it happened with the pandemic.

Before that health crisis, Larios helped about 10 or 15 families from the Ida B Wells and Coolidge centers, a number that rose to between 70 and 80; but this Thanksgiving week has already gone up to 90. “The truth is that everything is expensive”, He resigned.