CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Supply chain issues and inflation are causing concern for South Florida families struggling to put food on the table.
Demand is so high, some local food banks are having trouble keeping up.
Farm Share CEO Stephen Shelley says they are approaching a breaking point.
“My warehouses are more empty than they are full,” he said. “Our food supplies are going back to what they were pre-pandemic, but our demand is not, so there’s this giant gap between what we have coming in and what we have going out.”
Food banks across the country are seeing the number of people lining up begin to climb again, as inflation hits families everywhere.
Shelley says demand is double what it was pre-pandemic and Feeding South Florida President and CEO Paco Velez, is seeing a similar trend.
“We’re seeing a lot of families not only come back to Feeding South Florida, but we’re seeing them a lot more frequently,” said Velez. “Their dollar just isn’t stretching as far as it used to.”
Feeding South Florida has the backing of a nationwide network, so while their supplies of food have certainly slowed down, they are still at a manageable level.
As demand surges though, smaller food banks like Farm Share aren’t receiving the same amount of help they were from the government during the pandemic and are falling short.
“We’re really concerned, we think there could be a crisis looming if the government doesn’t take action and help support that program again going forward,” said Shelley.
Not only are food supplies slowing down, but the cost of bringing in that food is rising with inflation. That means food banks are spending more money yet bringing in less food.