Although inflation has shown some signs of tapering the past few months, the rise in the cost of food hasn’t been slowing as quickly. And when you compare the cost of a Thanksgiving meal this year to last year, the difference is stark.
The price of groceries is about 12% higher this year than last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And that includes many Thanksgiving staples.
After years of getting cheap turkey, some experts are calling the recent jump in prices “Turkeyflation.” The retail price of a frozen turkey has risen about 7% this year for consumers, even as the wholesale cost has increased by double or triple that amount.
For vulnerable residents, these price increases can present a big financial challenge. The Pittsburgh Community Food Bank told The Confluence on Tuesday that it’s receiving more calls for help and giving away more food than ever, while the cost of providing that food is increasing.
“At the beginning of the year, we started hearing about inflation a little bit. Now it's all of the time. People are definitely struggling to make ends meet, to get the things that they need to get by,” said Chris West, director of Community Connections and Collaborative Learning at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, during an interview on The Confluence.
The number of calls coming into the food bank asking for food assistance has increased 83% in 2022 compared to the same months in 2021, according to West. And the food bank gave away 800,000 more pounds of food this September than in the same month last year.
The cost of utilities has been rising, as well, and West said the food bank can connect people to utility assistance as well.
While the need is increasing, the food bank is in a better financial position than ever to help address that need.
Over the past five years the amount of donations and grants to the food bank have nearly doubled, from $43 million to $83 million, according to its 2020-2021 tax filing. The biggest increase was during the pandemic. The food bank received around 60% more during the 2019-2020 fiscal year, which included the first few months of the pandemic.
“Community foundations, community members have been so generous since the pandemic started,” West said. “Donations have really, really lifted us and allowed us to meet the needs.”
Not all of the food bank’s donations are in the form of cash: nearly half of its income last year was food donations, according to its 2020 annual report. The rest of the food bank’s income was in the form of cash donations from individuals and groups,such as foundations, as well as government programs.
“We're feeling the stress, and we know that folks are struggling out there,” West said. “But we're just happy that we can provide that help and get folks the resources that they need.”
