OHIO — The Ohio Association of Foodbanks is facing a critical need for support as food shortfalls and hardship affect donations.
In a news release from Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, and the association’s Board of Directors, Fugitt said the rising costs of rent, food and fuel have brought more families into the foodbanks.
Fugitt said of the American Rescue Plan, signed by President Biden, Ohio received $5.68 billion in direct relief from ARPA. From this amount $5.36 billion was set for flexible State Fiscal Recovery Fund for Ohio to rebuild from the pandemic.
“This relief and recovery package included an expanded Child Tax Credit, distributed in monthly installments – putting cash directly in families’ pockets and slashing child poverty and food insufficiency,” Fugitt wrote in the release. “It provided one-time direct payments to low- and moderate-income Americans, $130 billion to help schools safely reopen amidst the ongoing pandemic, and $350 billion in aid to state and local governments.”
Fugitt said foodbanks have been on the frontlines of the pandemic since March of 2020, experiencing the supply chain issues, staffing problems and high costs for food and transportation.
“We raised private funds furiously and purchased more food than we ever have before to keep our doors open and food on the shelves every single day of the pandemic,” she said. “Now we’re doing even more because of the high cost to find and purchase food while we’re getting less donated and federal commodities.”
Fugitt said more families are waiting in lines, including many who did not come throughout the pandemic until now. She said elderly people and those with disabilities are more frequent due to fixed incomes.
“Working adults are earning the same wages but paying $5 per gallon or more for fuel to get to work and facing an 11.2% increase in the cost of groceries so far this year,” she said.
She said foodbanks are desperately seeking more help, with many seeing spikes in need at nearly the same level or higher than the early weeks of the pandemic. Some foodbanks are rationing food and more will need to begin to do so.
“Hundreds of loads of USDA foods have been and are continuing to be cancelled due to various factors, including no bidders, price increases, lack of product availability, and higher transportation costs,” she said. “We have been calling for an investment of ARPA dollars in our network for months to help us support our communities as they recover and rebuild.”
Fugitt said the state announced that $809 million from the remaining ARPA State Fiscal Recovery Funds went into the State Capital Budget.
“Ohio has $1.9 billion remaining in ARPA State Fiscal Recovery Funds, hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent TANF funds and billions of dollars in its rainy day fund,” Fugitt wrote in the release. “Ohio’s foodbanks are asking for $50 million in immediate, emergency funding to move much-needed food out to food insecure Ohioans and $133 million in a longer-term investment to help us prepare our physical and human infrastructure to face the recession many economists estimate is just around the corner.”
According to the release more than 200 statewide, regional and local organizations alongside 600 people have signed an online petition urging immediate investments in Ohio’s foodbanks and other basic services that Ohioans with low and moderate incomes rely on.
“We are calling on Governor DeWine and members of the Ohio General Assembly to act, with urgency, to help us prevent hunger now and promote stability in the months ahead,” Fugitt said.
