HOUMA, La. — From the gas station to the grocery story, with prices for just about everything going up, we’re all forced to spend more money to live our lives.
A lot of folks don’t have that extra money, putting them in situations they never imagined. Organizations like foodbanks, designed to help those people, are struggling for the same reasons.
“We don’t focus on that,” said Terrebonne Churches United Foodbank Community Relations Director John McConnell. “We focus on what we have, what we can give and where we’re going to get some more from.”
Boxes packed up at the Terrebonne Churches United Foodbank in Houma are ready for Wednesday pickup, but McConnell already knows there won’t be enough to hand out.
“You’ve got people coming through here, never had to ask for anything in the life. Between COVID and the storm, they got just hammered,” McConnell said.
Add in the increase of food prices, and the foodbank is making tough decisions to meet a growing need.
“We’re cutting back on things like toiletries and things like that,” McConnell said. “We try as hard as we can not to cut back on the actual food.”
Folks line up outside hours before distribution begins. By the end of the year, the foodbank expects to feed more than 36,000 people.
“We were 27,000 last year, 21,000 the year before,” McConnell said. “It’s climbing.”
McConnell says there’s a big increase of older folks on fixed incomes, paying higher costs for everything, while trying to still feed themselves.
“In many cases we are their only option,” said foodbank Executive Director Lawrence DeHart.
DeHart says Hurricane Ida donations that poured in are gone, and filling the void isn’t easy in a community still struggling.
“We’re not giving up. It’s real. Come look at the lines. It’s real,” DeHart said.
So are inflation costs for everything to serve people in those lines.
“We’ll have an 18-wheeler full of stuff donated but we’ve got to pay to go get it and haul it back over here,” said McConnell. “The price has gone up 25, 30 percent to get it here.”
Food drives help, but McConnell says with prices the way they are the foodbank must get creative with solutions.
“Right now, we’re doing ten pounds of leg quarters but they’re harder to find and the price is going up, so I’m trying to find smaller packages of chicken and something else to go with it,” McConnell said.
No matter the cost or creative solution, McConnell and DeHart say the Christian based foodbank will continue to help people.
“If you bang on the door and need something and if we have it, it’s yours,” McConnell said.
“It may not be much, but we’re going to give you something every time you come,” DeHart said.
To help fill these shelves food donations are always welcome, but cash donations work best because the foodbank can stretch the dollar even further through pricing deals.
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