LOCALIZE IT: Ideas for local coverage of food banks

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:

Long lines are forming again outside U.S. food banks as working people increasingly turn to charity to feed their families with inflation at a 40-year high.

Many are seeking food handouts for the first time as skyrocketing grocery and gas prices make it hard to afford meals after taking care of rent, utilities and health care.

Food banks are struggling to meet the growing need as federal programs provide fewer commodities, grocery store donations wane and inflation squeezes cash gifts.

Here are some tips for reporting on how food banks in your area are handling the increase in demand. Local coverage could be paired with US—Food Banks-Inflation.

LOCALIZING THE STORY

— Find a food bank or pantry, church, community center or other organization that partners with a food bank in your area that can be used as a starting point for a local story. Attend some distribution events and try to talk with people receiving food packages who are willing to talk about their situations.

— The people lining up for food packages can provide some of the best material for your story by detailing their individual circumstances. Find out how much more they are spending for groceries and for how many family members. Also ask if they are seeking handouts for the first time and whether it’s been hard to ask for help.

OTHER QUESTIONS TO ASK

— What do the food bank executives and staff members say about increased demand at the local distribution site? Are they seeing more people? Are they seeing different kinds of people, such as more families? Are there a lot of first-time food recipients? Has the food bank changed its operations to adjust, such as adding distribution days?

— What is your local food bank doing to help meet any increase in demand for charitable commodities? Has it stepped up efforts to raise more cash from donors? Is it planning to increase purchases of food in the coming months to make up the shortfall in goods, and how much more does it plan to spend?

— Ask the food bank to provide their own distribution numbers in pounds to demonstrate the recent increase in demand for charitable food, perhaps comparing one month to another, or one month from this year to the same month last year.

— What’s happening with the volunteers who worked at the food banks during the earlier part of the pandemic? Are individual and corporate volunteers still helping out, or is there a weaker volunteer presence? If that’s the case, what are the food banks doing to woo back volunteers? Do they make up the slack with paid workers, and at what cost?

PUBLISHABLE CONTEXT

The coronavirus pandemic led to economic instability in the United States, sparking a surge in demand for charitable handouts from food banks nationwide as people struggled with illness and unemployment.

More than two years later, numbers gathered by the nonprofit Feeding America network, which includes some 200 food banks, show distribution remains above pre-pandemic levels, despite some easing late last year.

An increase in demand beginning this spring caught food bank workers by surprise because distribution had been easing last year as the U.S. economy improved and fewer people sought charitable food.

But starting around March, food banks reported a fresh surge in demand as prices for groceries and gasoline spiked and inflation soared to a 40-year high.

The food banks are struggling to meet the demand with the end of several key USDA programs that provided large amounts of commodities to the charitable food system.

Donations of food from grocery stores have also slipped, and inflation means the cash donations cannot buy as much food as they used to.

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Localize It is an occasional feature produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org.