Nashville, Tennessee (WSMV) – Inflation has increased the number of families served by Nashville food banks.
Leaders at Nashville’s St. Luke’s Community House say their food bank is serving twice as many families as this time last year.
Diamond Dorch, program assistant at St. Luke’s Community House Food Bank, said:
“They want food,” said Patricia Nesbitt, food bank chief program officer. It is a hygiene product, a basic household item such as deodorant and cleaning products.”
Those who help run the food bank at St Luke’s Community House say they can see inflation affecting many families.
“We can have the truck on Monday and the delivery will be done by Tuesday or Wednesday,” Dorch said.
Inflation is bringing more people to their door.
“We distributed about 199 food boxes in January, and last month we had nearly 600, serving over 1,200 people,” says Nesbitt.
Not only do these families need more food and household items, the group needs them more often.
“There are more families who are coming every week instead of the ones that normally come once a month. Sometimes I ask if they can come more than once a week just to get that food,” Dorch said. “With so many people doubling now, there may be eight people living in a house for two people, so naturally we need more food. ”
To meet the increased need, the food bank added one more service day and is placing bulk orders to the Second Harvest Food Bank.
“We added delivery truck days to keep up with that,” Dorch said. “We have also partnered with Amazon to increase delivery to families in addition to mobile meal delivery.”
Nesbitt said they have partnered with the Second Harvest Food Bank to provide many supplies and food, but they are also accepting donations to meet needs.
“Nashville has experienced this incredible growth, but as the city grows so does the divide, and the people who have always needed us for the last 100 years need us now more than ever.” Nesbitt said. “They are traveling farther than ever before just to get the basic supplies they need for their daily lives. Donations are always welcome.
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