Milwaukee residents’ need for food continues to grow.
Food insecurity peaked in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic but declined with the help of financial assistance programs. Now that those programs are ending, service providers are seeing an increase in those in need.
“Someone recently pointed out to me that even McDonald’s prices are going up,” said Solana Patterson-Ramos, executive director of the Milwaukee Food Council, which works to ensure Milwaukee has a healthy, affordable and sustainable food system. “Even the things that people have relied on to survive are getting more expensive.”
A June report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum shows that FoodShare usage remains higher than before the pandemic.
FoodShare is Wisconsin’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.
“As of March 2024, data from the state Department of Health shows that Wisconsin’s FoodShare program had a total of 702,700 recipients. While that was well below the recent peak of 793,300 participants in May 2021, it was still 99,000 (16%) more than March 2020, the last month in which recipient numbers were not affected by the pandemic,” the report said.
How many people are affected?
According to Bob Waite, senior account manager at IMPACT 2-1-1, IMPACT received 12,509 requests for food resources in all of 2022, accounting for 9.5% of all calls to IMPACT 2-1-1 that year.
IMPACT 2-1-1 is a group that connects people in need with resources and services in their communities.
However, Waite said there were 21,436 requests for food in the 12-month period from August 2023 to July. That represented 16% of all calls to IMPACT 2-1-1 during that period, which Waite said represents a 45% increase in requests compared to all of 2022.
He said 95% of all food-related calls were for referrals to food distribution centers.
Jonathan Hansen, chief strategy officer for the Hunger Task Force, said the organization has also seen an increase in the number of people in urgent need of food and those seeking assistance from homeless shelters and meal programs.
The Hunger Task Force is a food bank and advocacy organization based in West Milwaukee.
The Hunger Task Force Food Bank delivers healthy emergency food to a local network of food banks, soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Milwaukee County.
Hansen said the number of people and families using these programs has increased by 40%. The group currently serves 27,000 people a month.
Why is the demand for food increasing?
A Wisconsin Policy Forum report on the continued high use of FoodShare states that “this could be due to a number of factors, from changes in eligibility requirements to reduced stigma and high food prices.”
The biggest problem the Hunger Task Force sees is the higher cost of food and everything else, Hansen said.
“We hear so many stories about families having to choose between paying their rent and buying groceries every month,” he said. “In the Wisconsin winter, families with little to no income for food often have to choose between heating and putting food on the table.”
Patterson-Ramos of the Milwaukee Food Council said people are losing their social security benefits because of inflation.
“Our reality is that we need to do everything we can to improve our current emergency food supply system while ensuring that it is no longer needed in the future,” she said.
How you can help
You can volunteer: The Hunger Task Force employs 15,000 volunteers annually to support its various programs, including sorting food and building emergency rations at food bank facilities.
You can donate unused food to the Hunger Task Force, Feeding America or local food banks.
Any financial donation helps, Patterson-Ramos said.
“Sometimes a pantry needs to distribute food but doesn’t have staff, so operating costs can be a problem,” she said.
You too can be a voice.
Both the Hunger Task Force and the Milwaukee Food Council provide opportunities for people to advocate for new policies or changes to existing policies.
For more information about the group, visit the Hunger Task Force website, and subscribe to the Milwaukee Food Council’s newsletter to stay up to date on developments.
