Buchanan County Food Insecurity (8-13-20)

Buchanan County Food Insecurity (8-13-20)

1st.

Since the pandemic began... local food banks and pantries have seen an uptick in families needing their help.

This week... we found out by how much.the nation's largest hunger relief organization has released numbers showing covid- 19's impact on food insecurity--kq2's kilee thomas tells us how many buchanan county families are having trouble keeping their pantries full... because of the pandemic week after week have seen more and more families rely on them during this pandemic to put food on the tableand the numbers are backing it up.

"this is the biggest jump that we've ever seen."

Feeding america released their 2018 findings for their annual "map the meal gap" studywhich includes projections for 2020 the data shows covid-19's impact on buchanan county's food insecurity is significant "we're looking at an overall food insecurity rate of 19.2% and childhood insecurity rate of 26.4% so, if you think about that 1 in 4 children in buchanan county are food insecure.

That's an eye opening thing we're seeing."

Buchanan county's overall food insecurity rate went up over 5% in 2020.

And childhood food insecurity second harvest says the jump in numbers show how dire the pandemic has been for families in our area."we've heard comments from individuals that basically say, 'we'll pay for our electricity, our water, our utilities or our medicines over buying food.'

The local food bank covers 19 counties but say buchanan county being the largest in population has seen the highest number in new families becoming food insecure this year "so, you're looking at an additional 18,000 individuals that are food insecure."

Resulting in the food bank dishing out more meals "through our last fiscal year, we were able to distribute nearly 2.9 million lbs of food within buchanan county."as 1 in 4 kids in the county faces hunger harvest reminds community members to be aware of the problem"hunger has no bias, right?

It has no race, no face, no gender.

It affects everyone from all walks of life.

One of the things i've always tried to attest to that is, what would you do if you lost your job yesterday or today?

What would you do to stretch your dollar to provide for your family?

Well, individuals are truly right now."

Second harvest says the greatest way to do your part in helping fight food insecurity in buchanan county is to monetarily donate.

Reporting in st.

Joseph kilee thomas kq2 news if you would like to donate and help second harvest ... you can find a link on this story on our website, kq2.com you can designate your gift to any designate your website, kq2.comstory on our link on this harvest ...and help second if you would if you would like to donate and help second harvest ... you can find a link on this story on our website, kq2.com you can designate your gift to any county in their service area less than