Mahoning Valley - With record high inflation making a significant impact on what people can afford at home, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley is finding that one of the budgets taking the biggest hit, is the food budget.

As we kick off the 16th year of the Feed Our Valley campaign, the need is truly greater than ever before, not just for the hungry in the Mahoning Valley but for the food bank as well.

"We all know that this year, things are unprecedented, this is like something many of us have never seen before," Mike Iberis, Executive Director of Second Harvest Food Bank said.

Inflation has devastated the working poor and especially those on fixed incomes. More and more people are now seeking out a food pantry.

"We are seeing about 30% more people coming to our pantries and it's made up mostly of senior citizens," Iberis said. "Most of them first timers, most of them have never been to a pantry before and they are telling people at the pantry, well you know what, we've always been able to manage on our income, however, what's happening now is, we're going to the grocery store, the products have gone up in price so much that we can't even get, forget about fringes, forget about the luxuries, we can't even get the basic necessities, so that is why we are coming to you at the foodbank."

Second Harvest Food Bank also serves about 42 school buildings in 15 school districts in the three county area of Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties and they are seeing a spike in usage in the school pantries as well.

"These students are visiting that food pantry more often than they did last school year into Spring and Winter earlier this year, so it tells us that kids are sensitive to what's going on and they are finding there is a need in their house for a little bit more," Iberis said. "It hasn't been a huge spike like in the pantries but we have seen the elevation."

Meeting that kind of demand though has been hard for Second Harvest to keep up with.

"As fast as it comes in, it goes out," Iberis said. "We are still distributing close to 50,000 pounds of food a day."

One major factor was the USDA drastically cutting down what it sends to food banks.

"The lowest amount of food that we had at one time was about 30% of our shelves, 30% of the capacity of the food bank which is dangerously low," Iberis said. "We had enough for about ten days which is not enough. Typically, we have much, much, much more than that, so we were keeping our fingers crossed that something was going to happen and we were going to start getting food in."

Also, stores the food bank typically purchase from, didn't have any extra product to sell them. Currently at about 60% capacity, many of the shelves at Second Harvest remain empty.

"Retailers are going through the same things we're going through," Iberis said. "They're seeing a shortage of product and wholesalers and producers of product. We get the unsellables from them that we sort through but there is less of it right now simply because more product is going out the door, they have less product to sell, so it is a perfect storm."

Let's not forget about the inflation too, that is also have a major impact on the food bank.

"At one point, we were able to distribute six meals for a dollar, right now it's like four meals for a dollar and for a dollar to be able to purchase ten dollars-worth of food in the past, pretty much makes it $6.50 right now so it's really changed," Iberis said. "The inflation has been absolutely horrendous, it's had a life changing effect on many, many people."

And Iberis says if the inflation isn't tackled soon, he sees food insecurity in the Mahoning Valley getting much worse.

"If inflation isn't tackled and tamed, in some manner, then there is not only going to be the current people that are suffering, but I truly believe that we're going to see more people who are telling us they are on the edge and right now I don't need your services, right now we can still make it, but I'm fearful that some of those folks on the edge, if inflation isn't dealt with and solved quickly here, they are going to fall off the cliff," Iberis said.

That's why we need your help in supporting the Feed Our Valley campaign and making sure no one in our Valley goes hungry.

Currently, 1 in 5 children is at risk of hunger in the Valley. 1 in 6 adults are at risk of hunger in the Valley.

"Second Harvest Food Bank will continue to do what we do on a daily basis," Iberis said. "This staff here is incredible, they care, they put forth the effort and we are proud to be here and we're going to make sure people get fed."

The Feed Our Valley campaign runs from Nov. 14th through Dec. 16th. We are asking for community members to donate money to the food bank or donate non-perishable food items at any local Sparkle Market. All donations of food and cash stay local.

Here is a look at the most needed items:

Cereal
Canned Vegetables
Canned Soup
Canned Fruit
Dry Pasta
Macaroni and Cheese
Peanut Butter
Tuna

As always, thank you for helping Feed Our Valley!