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    • Food banks and pantries are collecting donations before Thanksgiving
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    Food banks and pantries are collecting donations before Thanksgiving

    Umito Posted on

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    NEW YORK – With a Ne-Yo 2000s R&B song blaring through the speakers, volunteers swept floors and washed dishes at a Brooklyn restaurant. CHiPS Pantry on a recent afternoon. The midday lunch rush had just ended, and Pauline Auguste was already giving the marching orders to the next wave – and mentally thinking about what would happen. Thanksgiving.

    “They don’t know what I do on a daily basis,” said Augustus, who commands an army of nearly 1,000 men. volunteerssome who come once a week, others once a year. “I can’t afford to be overwhelmed, because if I’m overwhelmed, everything goes wrong.”

    This fall, employees like Auguste across the country were in anticipation of Thanksgiving picking up frozen turkeys, financial donations big and small, and trying to make sure that their budgets are stretched. Volunteers are counting each box of stuffing this month so staff know how much is still left.

    As salaries have failed to keep pace with housing costs In recent years, more families and seniors have turned to food banks, nonprofit leaders told USA TODAY. Non-profit organizations – which range from free shopping centers has vertical urban farms to food trucks – offer creative solutions so that no one leaves empty-handed. Persistent volunteers and thoughtful donations — even as small as a one-pound bag of rice — are like individual drops that form a steady stream of support, said Miriam Ortiz, director of the Gladiolus pantry in Fort Myers, Florida.

    “People have hearts and they think about us,” Ortiz, 58, said. “I get checks for $5 or $10 and we appreciate every amount.”

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    “An explosion of needs”

    As child poverty has increased In recent years, more parents and children are reaching out for help, food bank leaders told USA TODAY. The numbers agree with the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which found 13.5% of American households were food insecure in 2023.

    More seniors on Social Security are coming to the Gladiolus Food Pantry, Ortiz said, and in Brooklyn, CHiPS serves more families housed with both working parents, Executive Director Peter Endriss said.

    CHiPS also expanded its operations to include a food pantry truck last year, which travels to five Brooklyn neighborhoods, stopping at two elementary schools, helping the nonprofit serve more people than ever. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, CHiPS served between 100 and 150 sit-down lunches per day. Today, they offer between 400 and 500 take-out meals daily.

    “There’s just been an explosion of need,” said 75-year-old volunteer Mark Hoglund, comparing this year and last year to 2017, when he started helping. Auguste, 39, also said 2023 and 2024 were “the time when our numbers skyrocketed.” “

    In Wisconsin, there has been a 30% increase in monthly visits in 2024 compared to 2023 at the state food bank Hunger Task Force, according to Executive Director Matt King.

    “The main feedback we’re getting is that the rising cost of housing is putting a very real strain on family budgets and many difficult choices need to be made,” King said.

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    At San Antonio Food Banklow-income community members feel “frustrated,” stuck in a vicious cycle of to rent out and utility costs they can’t keep up with, CEO Eric Cooper said.

    “They have improved their skills, but still can’t find meaningful employment. A well-paying job just seems out of reach for many,” Cooper said. “They also seem exhausted, having to juggle multiple income strategies, such as driving for Uber and participating in the gig economy.”

    This year, the San Antonio Food Bank has served up to 400,000 people per month, according to Cooper, including people seeking help accessing food stamps and job search resources. To meet the huge Thanksgiving needs, Cooper’s team began purchasing frozen turkeys “at a strategic time” – immediately after Thanksgiving 2023 through spring 2024, when the price per pound was lowest. They will distribute nearly 30,000 birds, Cooper said.

    Armies of volunteers and “egg ladies”

    Like Hoglund at CHiPS, Peggy Rosenburg devotes many hours each week to volunteering at the Gladiolus Food Pantry.

    Rosenburg has no title other than “volunteer,” but over the past 19 years she has organized her own condo community into an arsenal of pantry support, acting as a funnel for people’s generosity. Her bocce club has an annual tournament centered around donating food, and older couples call Rosenburg before they leave on cruise ships so she can clean out their refrigerators.

    “The community knows I’m a contact person,” Rosenburg told USA TODAY.

    The 78-year-old is also part of a group of women nicknamed “egg ladies” because they gather hundreds of empty egg cartons for reuse by Ortiz, who distributes dozens of key proteins after purchasing bulk orders without box.

    Food bank leaders who spoke with USA TODAY said Thanksgiving spots are quickly filled by volunteers who “are really grateful for the opportunity to do something so real,” Endriss said.

    “They thank us when they leave, which is a really fun dynamic because we should thank them for all the work they’ve done,” Endriss said.

    “I want them to have this dignity”

    In Las Vegas, which has some of the the highest unemployment rate in the countryThe Obodo Collective’s freshly grown vegetables save people money on groceries and help them pay their rent, said executive director Tameka Henry.

    The group’s half-acre farm grows more than 20 different root vegetables, leafy greens and fruit trees. Professional chefs teach people how to cook with ingredients during the group’s “Sunset Suppers,” a farm-to-table experience including the harvest and a candlelight dinner.

    “They may be needy, but that doesn’t mean they should take everything you give them,” Henry, 47, said. “I want them to have that dignity.”

    This Thanksgiving, Henry hopes to give away 100 turkeys as well as grocery store gift cards, which she says are the best way for people to buy what they need.

    In Milwaukee, the Hunger Task Force food pantry has also invested in a mobile pantry that transports food to where people live, including halal offerings for the city’s Muslim community. The 35-stop truck route has evolved over the past 10 years based on need, King said.

    “It’s about being responsive and listening to the needs of the people we serve, and then being willing to adapt,” King said.

    “They know we need help”

    Before Thanksgiving, King’s team received a check for $50, sent by a sender they recognized from their pantry line. The woman said she felt better now, King said, and wanted to “give so that someone else going through a tough time has the same support and hope.”

    Small donations also came to Gladiolus this month, Ortiz said, including from a woman who sent two one-pound bags of rice and a man who sent a can of milk long shelf life.

    “They’ll just buy it and send it because they know we’re hurting, they know we need help,” Ortiz said.

    At Brooklyn’s CHiPS Pantry, an explosion of donations and work hours will erupt this holiday season, as Park Slope neighbors roast turkeys and high school students bake pies – enough to last a few days after the luncheon. Thanksgiving, Augustus said.

    Pointing to his laptop screen, Auguste smiles as he clicks refresh on his Google response form, where people donating can choose the dish they want to cook. Every year, Auguste says, she looks forward to managing the spreadsheet and crossing dishes off her list.

    “See, we’ve already done this… let me refresh this page. We have 50 responses so far!” said Augustus. “That’s why I don’t want any praise. It’s not about us. It’s what we do for the community.”

    Umito
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