In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when restaurants were closing, many distributors had an excess of produce. They donated this to Foodshare, which decided to put together a mobile food bank near Hartford Regional Market in early April. Cars would drive by and get a box of food popped in their trunk to avoid virus exposure.
The demand was so high, the lines of cars caused traffic jams.
Food insecurity in Connecticut is estimated to have increased by 28 percent due to the pandemic, according to data from Foodshare.
Jason Jakubowski, president and CEO of Foodshare, said the original mobile food drive was only supposed to be two weeks, but the need continued.
“The pressure on food banks not just here in Connecticut but nationwide has grown incredibly over the last nine months,” Jakubowski said. “There’s no question about that.”
Foodshare said they distributed just over 11 million meals during all of 2019. They distributed the same amount during the last six months of 2020. Nearly 4.5 million of those were distributed at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
And a survey done by Foodshare in May found 73 percent of the cars coming through the mobile distribution had never used these services before.
Since then Foodshare and the Connecticut Food Bank, which are in the process of merging, have put together three more weekly mobile food distributions in Norwalk, Norwich and New London as need continues to grow. These sites are in addition to the original one which moved from Hartford to Rentschler Field. The new sites are based on where the organization could find spaces large enough to accommodate the amount of cars coming in.
The Connecticut Food Bank said they distributed 13.8 million pounds in the last six months of 2019 and 15.8 million pounds in the last six months of 2020.
“If you had told me back in April we’d still be there in January, I’d probably tell you you were crazy, yet here we are,” said Jakubowski, who will head the two organizations once they officially merge next month. “…The common story is somebody who was gainfully employed at five, six figure a year jobs, no reason to think they’d lose their job and at no fault of their own, had the rug pulled out from under them. You now have people who have suddenly found themselves without an income. What they realize is savings go fast and you do have these other commitments. Unfortunately it tends to be food that gets (put) by the wayside.”
Jakubowski said prior to COVID hitting, there were over 400,000 people in Connecticut suffering from food insecurity. He’s estimating that since March 2020 that number has increased to over 500,000.
Carol Shatuck, CEO of Food Rescue US, and Jennifer Guhl, director of marketing and development for the Norwalk-based organization, said food security is going up by as much as 4 percent in different counties across the state.
“There’s a lot of need,” Shattuck said. “There was a crisis of food insecurity in Connecticut before the pandemic. The pandemic just exacerbated it and layered a new level of crisis on top of a crisis already there. With so many people unemployed for the first time, the numbers have really been off the charts.”
While government assistance is available, Jakubowski said it’s difficult for many to navigate the bureaucratic process of signing up, especially with qualifications always changing.
Foodshare became one of the first food banks to come up with SNAP outreach onsite to help people navigate the process of signing up. Jakubowski said they enrolled more people in SNAP during the first three months of the pandemic than they did in all of 2019.
“SNAP is always the first line of defense against hunger,” Jakubwoski said. “…I do think there is a feeling food banks can easily fill whatever gaps are there in government programs and that is just not true. If SNAP were to go away tomorrow every food bank does not have enough food to make up the difference.”
The troubles aren’t limited to SNAP. Shattuck and Guhl said they see seniors who are afraid to leave their home to get food because of COVID or undocumented immigrants who fear being reported if they get help. Some people don’t have a car to access mobile food drives while some simply struggle with the stigma of getting assistance or don’t qualify but need help making ends meet in the short-term.
Food Rescue US works around the country to connect places like restaurants, which might have an abundance of food to donate, with social service organizations. Guhl said they work with 110 organizations, 40 of which joined in 2020.
“It’s really important to find partners,” she said. “There can’t be one solution right now. There’s not one group to address this issue.”
Working with smaller organizations helps fill in the gaps left sometimes by government assistance programs and larger food banks. These organizations deliver food directly to people or distribute meals instead of just groceries to help those who might not have the ability to cook themselves.
“We keep finding new pockets of need,” Shattuck said. “The reality is the issue is so big, there needs to be all kinds of solutions. There’s not one answer. Large food banks play a really important role across the country. They put a lot of food into the hands of people who are food insecure…(but) they can’t meet all the needs of this very fluid situation.”
