Rising housing and grocery costs mean more and more families struggle to put food on the table.
The School Pantry program of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank is trying to alleviate food insecurity for children and their families in the region. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is asking readers to support the program as part of its annual Community Christmas Card.
The fund held $10,205 as of Friday.
The School Pantry program started in 2019 with a $10,000 grant from Bank of America to provide families of students at Monitor Elementary School in Springdale with food. The program now serves about 25 individual schools or districts, said Sabrina Thiede, director of programs with the food bank.
Food can be picked up at the schools so parents don't have to make an extra trip. So far this year, the program has served more than 54,000 people, including nearly 30,000 children. The figures include households that may have been served more than once.
The demand for food has not waned since the pandemic subsided, Thiede said. The food bank continues to see more and more families depend on the pantry program, she said.
"As the housing costs continue to rise in Northwest Arkansas, and groceries continue to be at an all-time high, the need for our services has grown," Thiede said. "Families just don't have enough to make their paychecks stretch to the end of the month, putting the need on utilizing services like the School Pantry program."
The cost of groceries nationwide is still rising. Grocery prices increased 0.3% from September to October and was 2.1% higher than in October 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.
Grocery prices are predicted to increase 1.6% next year.
Some relief may be on the horizon. Economists predict salaries nationwide may increase 4% next year while inflation for the cost of all goods may rise below 3%, according to an article published this month in Forbes.
However, the cost to live in Northwest Arkansas is rapidly on the rise. Median price for a single-family home in Northwest Arkansas rose 55% from 2019 to $328,400 this year, according to the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
There are several reasons why families may become food insecure.
Some families can spend up to half of household income on housing costs alone, leaving little room for other expenses, such as food, said Keesa Smith, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. The price of food may be coming down soon, but for now, everyone has to pay more to get less food than in years past, she said.
"Couple that with the other ways Arkansans' budgets are stretched -- you have families that have little wiggle room and have to purchase what little they can afford, and try to rely on other sources, like food banks," Smith said.
The pandemic also continues to impact the situation. Families may have lost someone, jobs were lost and the pandemic just fundamentally changed life for many, Smith said. Families that may have had access to increased aid during the pandemic no longer have it, she said.
Additionally, every county in the state has at least one "food desert," and most have more than one, Smith said. Food deserts are areas where people have limited access to a variety of healthy and affordable food, according to the Agriculture Department.
The state has some of the strictest rules in the nation regarding how families can access programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Smith said. The program is commonly known as food stamps. In Arkansas, 66% of families eligible to participate in SNAP actually do so, compared to 82% nationwide, she said.
The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance works to get policies changed on the state and national levels to help address food insecurity, said Kathy Webb, the alliance's chief executive officer. The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank is part of the alliance. Despite the efforts, food insecurity remains a prominent problem in the state, she said.
The food bank does critical work, Webb said. After paying for housing, utilities, health care and travel expenses, some families may have nowhere else to turn but the food bank to survive, she said.
"A lot of the time people assume someone who relies on the charitable food network or SNAP is sitting at home not doing anything," Webb said. "It's more often the case they're working -- sometimes two jobs, often with kids -- and those paychecks don't stretch to meet all the things people need."
A family experiencing food insecurity could be as close as a neighbor or friend. There is a stigma around food insecurity, and people often don't share they're in need, Webb said. That's why it's important to keep the issue at the forefront of public awareness, she said.
"It's something that does have to be talked about," Webb said. "While you want to make sure you're elevating the voices of the people with lived experience, if possible -- sometimes those people don't want to talk about it."
Christy Cornell, left, and Ken Lassiter with Glaxo Smith Kline Small Pharmaceutical work with other volunteers to make boxes at the NWA Food Bank Thursday Dec. 21, 2023 in Lowell. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is asking readers for donations to support the food bank’s School Pantry program. The newspaper will accept donations through Friday. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey)How to help
The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asks readers for donations to support the School Pantry program of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank through the Community Christmas Card program.
The food bank will receive 100% of the tax-deductible donations.
The newspaper will accept donations through Friday.
Donations may be made at https://bit.ly/ChristmasCardNWADG or mailed to Community Christmas Card, c/o Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, ATTN: Sandy Robinson, P.O. Box 1607, Fayetteville, AR 72702.
Source: NWA Democrat-Gazette