Finding Ways to Help Families Experiencing Food Insecurity

 By Mylee Santos

 Carol Chace, Secretary for the Easton Food Pantry, noticed the rise in the number of clients they served, mainly due to increased food prices.

“When I first started in 2022, we were providing food for about 100-110 families. That number has increased to between 120-130 weekly,” said Chace.

The Easton Food Pantry solely provides food for Easton residents in need, with a mission statement that says, “As long as there are hungry people in our community, our doors and hearts will be open to help.”

Chace’s volunteer work at the food pantry involves packing grocery bags for clients, sorting food donations, stocking shelves, preparing thank-you notes for donors, and moderating board meetings.

Chace said the volunteers make sure recipients get the right amount of food by doing mid-week donation pick-ups from Shaw’s and Roche Bros.

“Some of our volunteers also come in on Thursday and/or Friday to make food pickups and purchases from the Greater Boston Food Bank and other wholesaler food suppliers,” said Chace.

A study by The Greater Boston Food Bank recently reported that “Nearly 2 million adults in Massachusetts are food insecure including 45% of adults in 4 counties.”

The inflation of the cost of living, and groceries, and recovering from a worldwide pandemic have majorly impacted food security in America.

The study was done in 2024 which said that “1 in 3 Massachusetts adults reported household food insecurity.”

There has been a steady rise in adults who now experience food insecurity, with numbers jumping from 1.8 million to 1.9 million in 2023 to 2024.

The study says that “Food inflation remains the leading cause for food security—73% of food insecure individuals said that high inflation and rising food costs were the biggest barriers and needed to be addressed.”

The Amicable Congregational Church, UCC, held a food drive in Tiverton, Rhode Island to help feed people in need on November 23, 2024.

They collected food from volunteers and 29 local businesses and held their event at a library in the town. The donations consisted of canned goods, pie, and turkey, but also included hygiene products like detergent and paper towels.

Sarah Winsor, a church member and volunteer, helped give back to families during this time. She said that the donation bags were categorized by members of people in each family so that it made it easier to assess the amount of food given out.

Winsor worked at the table with six to eight individuals to help organize donations being picked up. She also prepared extra bags in case they were needed and handed out hand warmers.

She said that many residents of Tiverton helped out as well as middle school and high school students.

She said it was heart-warming to see “people from the community that I knew—they were very thankful,” said Winsor.

Winsor said most of her volunteering was around children because they are very important to her, as a teacher.

The Greater Boston Food Bank study said food pantries and government programs such as SNAP aren’t always enough for families, but it helps.

“I think that if there were more events set up in a structured way more people would take advantage of the food pantry because not many people know about it,” said Winsor.

She said that she wants more recognition for food pantries, especially the one in her area so that the people who need to access food can know that they are available.

Chace said that her motivation to join The Easton Food Pantry was because volunteerism was encouraged at her past job. After retiring, she saw signs saying that The Easton Food Pantry was looking for volunteers and she knew that she had the perfect background to begin this volunteer job.

The Governor of Massachusetts put out a statement along the study which said, “Our administration has partnered with The Greater Boston Food Bank to increase access to nutritious food across the state, and we’ll keep working hard to combat hunger.”

There have been many recent efforts to put an end to food insecurity from monetary donations from big corporations and food pantries and food drives through volunteer work.