Inflation accelerated once again last month to a 40-year high as the Consumer Price Index rose 9.1% from one year ago, forcing poor, elderly and middle-class Americans to confront harsh realities to pay for necessities. Today, it costs 12.2% more to put food on the table at home, about 60% more to drive to work and 2.8% more to take public transit than it did just last year. Families are turning to food banks for help in unprecedented numbers, with donors and foundations rising to meet the challenge. But even charitable dollars can’t escape the corrosive impacts of inflation. In this land of plenty, 2022 may be the hungriest summer on record for Americans up and down the income scale.
According to Feeding America, 53 million people turned to food banks, food pantries and meal programs in 2021, one-third more than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of Americans relied on food banks – some for the first time – as workers lost jobs or were temporarily unemployed. Today, many people are back to work, but real wages, or inflation-adjusted pay, keeps falling, as grocery prices rise. Again, food banks are seeing long lines for help and reporting spiking demand.
Read Full Article »