“We can customize based on any business or corporation to meet their needs,” Klingelsmith said. Through the campaign, donors can choose to sponsor a mobile pantry or the Food 4 Kids program, which fills backpacks for students to ensure they have something to eat everyday.īusinesses can round up their sales, share a percentage of their sales or start a corporate employee match program and promise the funds to Manna. That goal is a small portion of their total annual cost of food, which this year is projected to be about $700,000, Klingelsmith said. Manna is hoping to raise about $100,000 to go towards purchasing food for pantries and programs. Manna, which serves Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim counties, only had about two weeks notice that the COVID-era benefits would be ending in March and, anticipating increased need for food assistance, launched a fundraising campaign called Nourish the North. More: 'It can happen to anybody': How to help others in your community suffering from food insecurity More: Emmet County food scrap collection program helps fight climate change “People were used to getting those extra funds every month and now that has been discontinued, it's a significant decrease that people have had in the last few weeks now and so our lines have definitely been increasing.” “As of March 1, (the federal government) discontinued the extra allotment,” Executive Director of The Manna Food Project Carrie Klingelsmith said. “Prices are rising at the grocery store at a rate that we haven't seen in over 40 years, so that's really affecting overall consumer behavior and how they shop for food.”įor food-insecure families and individuals, one option is to get a portion of or all of their food from local pantries in order to use the money they earn on other necessary expenses. “So these pandemic-era benefits, which are supplemental, that came into effect at the start of COVID and the public health emergency, have been really helping low income households put food on the table,” said David Ortega, associate professor at Michigan State University and food economist. However, as inflation has driven up the cost of food, those benefits don’t go as far in a grocery store now as they did in the 2010s, leaving many to turn to local food pantries for what they need. Recipients nationwide stopped receiving the extra allotment at the beginning of March, although they continue to receive the same benefits they had before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, three years after the first lockdown, those COVID-era benefits are coming to an end, leaving many in a worse situation than before.Īccording to Feeding America, 33 percent of Michigan households receiving SNAP benefits have children. NORTHERN MICHIGAN - During the COVID-19 pandemic, resources like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) gave recipients additional benefits to help feed themselves and their families during a difficult time. Manna Food Project launched its "Nourish the North" campaign after additional benefits to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that were implemented during the pandemic, came to an end at the beginning of March.
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