‘I’m gravely concerned;’ Central Texas food pantries struggle with skyrocketing demand and record shortages

CENTRAL TEXAS (KWTX) - Summer is usually a very busy time for food pantries as kids are out of school needing to be fed, electricity bills rise and gas prices soar, but, this summer, food pantries across Central Texas are seeing an alarming demand for groceries as their supplies dwindle with shortages among distributors.

“I get calls every day from people who want to know if they can come again, and we just can’t allow them to come a second time because we’re going to run out of groceries as it is,” Raymond Cockrell, the executive director of the Food Care Center in Killeen, said.

He said Food Care Center has already served 10,000 people in the month of June. He said that is the most they have served in a month in the past 36 years of operating.

Ann Owen, the executive director of Caritas in Waco, said they reached double the number of people in May 2023 compared to May 2022. She said they served nearly 3,000 people in the month of May.

Churches Touching Lives for Christ, or CTLC, Executive Director Earl Lloyd said they are expected to serve about 1,500 more people this summer.

All of the food pantries listed above said they have heard from new clients that they are coming to the pantries because of how expensive bills, groceries and other necessities have become.

“With increased of their other bills that they’re having to pay monthly and just seeing at the end of the month they just don’t have enough left to put food on the table,” Owen said. “It’s just very sad.”

The higher prices at the grocery stores are also affecting what food pantries can afford with their budgets. Lloyd said the price of a can of corn went up to about six cents in three days. That would be about $90 more that they were planning to spend on canned corn in the summer.

“I can’t buy what I used to buy because everything has gone up,” he said.

Cockrell said he has seen the number of families with members serving at Fort Cavazos increase by about 25% over the last year.

Even the distributors that these food pantries rely on are struggling to provide supplies to pantries. All of the above pantries above heavily rely on Central Texas Food Bank in Austin.

“There’s just been little to no frozen protein available from the Central Texas Food Bank, and so it’s difficult to go out and buy,” Cockrell said.

He said the list that pantries order from the Central Texas Food Bank decreased from being seven pages of items to around two pages.

He said, on those two pages, it is hard to find protein items and canned goods as most of the list is filled with produce selections.

Central Texas Food Bank stated that there are multiple economic and supply reasons to explain why they are receiving less donations.

“It’s important to note that no food bank of pantry has been immune to the supply chain challenges facing the country. Issues ranging from higher demand to transportation availability and price volatility have corresponded with decreased donations across the board to put pressure on the entire food bank system. It’s a stressful time, made even more so by a decrease in government support as well,” stated Sari Vatske, CEO, Central Texas Food Bank.

However the food bank stated they are on track to distribute the same amount of food this fiscal year.

“We’re distributing as much food as we can get,” Vatske stated. “In fact, we are on pace to secure and distribute the same amount of food this fiscal year as we did last fiscal year. We have also committed more than $12M to the direct purchase of food for those who need it most. Like everyone is experiencing, inflation has dramatically increased prices, so this strategy doesn’t fill all the need, because the need continued to grow.”

In response to why they are focusing on distributing more produce, they stated there are several factors that lead to uncertainty as they plan ahead.

“The outlook is uncertain –– the federal government’s resolution on the Farm Bill being debated at present is a key variable,” he stated. “Weather and the 2023 harvest is a key variable. In the face of this uncertainty, we’re putting a greater emphasis on providing fresh produce to our pantries, we’re actively responding to hot spots around our 21-county region to address issues, and we’re appealing to both legislators and donors to help us meet the present-day challenges. It’s going to take all of us, working together, to navigate the months ahead in order to help our neighbors.”

Cockrell said he is scrambling to find alternative resources to fill the freezer with protein and fill the shelves with nonperishables; however, that is requiring more funds. He said he spent around $25,000 this month to meet the demand. He said their yearly budget is $100,000, and he’s concerned they may go over budget by $200,000 at this rate.

“With the number of people coming through our doors, we’ve already had to cut back people to just once a month, and it’s just going to be a difficult situation going forward,” he said.

The pantries are thankful for their communities who continue to support them. They are asking people to donate canned goods, specifically staple items, as they aim to continue filling their shelves and serving those who are hungry.

“Now, more than ever, we really need the community to assist us with financial donations and or bring canned good items to us,” Cockrell said.

“We would love for especially either churches or any religious organizations, companies, businesses, anyone, even individuals,” Owen said. “If they want to do a food drive, we’d be glad for them to do that.”

“They could go to their local groceries, whatever that is, as they can afford and as they’re moved, just buy a couple of cases of canned goods, like I said, $20,” Lloyd said. “We could probably get 24 cans, and that would go a long way to filling in some of those gaps that we have.”

The Salvation Army in Waco is also hosting a food drive July 14 for nonperishable items.

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