A Marinette food pantry is experiencing record-breaking demand as the promise of increased food insecurity looms.
St. Vincent de Paul District of Marinette served over 275,000 pounds of food in 2022 to local neighbors in need – a nearly 150% increase year-over-year. This demand has only increased as 2023 kicks off. If the need continues at this rate, SVdP can expect to surpass 500,000 pounds of food this year.
This expected demand is not taking into account the recent announcement by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services regarding Pandemic EBT benefits. DHS recently announced that the additional EBT benefits families have been receiving during the COVID-19 Pandemic will be discontinued next month.
“2023 is going to be a hard year,” SVdP Executive Director Ashley Berken said. “We already have numbers higher than we have ever seen. Pair that with many families losing hundreds of dollars per month in EBT benefits and the ever-increasing cost of groceries, and we will be in a tight spot.”
Since the beginning of the year, SVdP Food Pantry has distributed over 77,000 pounds of food. That is over 50% of the entire distribution in 2021 being given away in eight weeks.
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