Tarrant Area Food Bank struggling due to inflation: ‘We’re not able to give as much’
Supply chain issues, rising food prices and a decline in donations have put a strain on the Tarrant Area Food Bank as it serves an increasing number of residents this holiday season.
In the past week, the Tarrant Area Food Bank’s mega mobile markets fed over 15,000 families, about 5,000 more than the same period last year.
Because of rising food costs, more Tarrant County families are struggling to put food on the table and are leaning on the Tarrant Area Food Bank for assistance. Dallas-Fort Worth grocery prices jumped 17% in the last year, the largest increase since March 1974, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in October.
With over a million meals handed out every week, the TAFB will have given out 68 million pounds of food this year, up from 36 million pounds before the pandemic. The groups they see the most are single working mothers and seniors.
“You’ve got people who need help because they’re feeling the impacts of inflation and it’s affecting their household budgets and they can’t get that dollar to stretch as much as they’d like,” said Julie Butner, president and CEO of the Tarrant Area Food Bank.
Higher costs, lower donations
The higher cost of food has put a strain on the food bank’s ability to provide meals to the community. It’s spending $1.5 million more per month to buy food than was spent this time last year. Inflation has also had an impact on operations — the utilities bill is twice as high as it was last year for the three buildings, and fuel costs have gone up for the 18 long-haul vehicles used to transport food across 13 counties.
“We’re giving, but we’re not able to give as much as we gave last year because we don’t have the surplus and it’s kind of a perfect storm,” Butner says.
Donations are also down this holiday season compared to the last, according to the TAFB. Grocery stores are experiencing supply chain issues, so they don’t have as much food that they can donate to food banks. And with rising labor costs, corporations don’t have as much surplus to donate either. Federal and state subsidies that were provided to the food bank during the pandemic are now gone. To deal with the lack of those resources, the TAFB is tapping into reserves and relying more on individual donations.
“This is all the aftereffects of downsizing, the downturn during the pandemic,” Butner said. “Trying to start up the engines again just takes time to get back to pre-pandemic levels.”
Reduced food supply, longer lines
Because of increasing demand, supply chain issues, rising food prices and the decline in donations, the TAFB’S 500 partner agencies don’t have as much food supply as in previous years. Last year, the mega mobile markets would hand out 80 pounds of food per family, but this year it’s between 50 and 60 pounds.
“They’re feeling that, they’re seeing that when they go out to our grocery list and try to order from us, they’re not seeing as much availability out there,” Butner said about the nonprofit partners. “They do call and say, ‘Gosh, the shopping list looks a little light,’ and it is light because we just don’t have as much freedom as we had this time last year.”
Holiday season rush
With turkeys in short supply this year, the TAFB started purchasing turkeys for Thanksgiving meals back in March.
“We partnered with a lot of folks and spent a lot of money to get the food in that we thought we were going to need for Thanksgiving and I think we did a nice job of meeting the need,” Butner said.
She expects the compound effects of inflation and supply chain issues will continue through the holidays this year.
How to help TAFB this holiday season
Don’t know what to get your friend or family member this Christmas? You can help support local families in their honor by visiting tafb.org/gifts. After you choose an item and make the donation, the recipient will receive a special e-card to notify them of their gift.
You can help distribute holiday meals to families by signing up to volunteer, whether on your own or with your family, faith group, community organization or co-workers.
This story was originally published November 23, 2022 at 2:43 PM.
