Despite inflation cooling off this year, the demand for food assistance has not. Leaders from Second Harvest and Mercer County Food Banks said the fight against hunger has not gotten any easier.

“Sadly, every year, the need seems to grow or stays about the same,” Director of Development for Second Harvest Food Renee Fuller said.

Fuller told 21 News that the food bank had to increase its budget for food purchases this year because of a growing need. 

“Now we’ve purchased a million dollars worth of food,” Fuller said.

With the holidays coming up, the budget and the number of people in need are expected to grow. Fuller said about 15,000 people visit one of their many partner pantries in the Mahoning Valley every week. 

In Mercer County, the food bank saw a 117% increase in food distribution between 2022 and 2023. 

“As of the end of last week, we hit 2.6 million pounds of food distributed already in 2024, so we are on track to distribute close to 3 million pounds of food to neighbors in need,” Executive Director for Mercer County Food Bank, Becky Page, said. 

Fuller and Page attributed the growing number of people facing food insecurity to a few reasons. 

“With the ending of the pandemic SNAP benefits last year, it sent a lot of people to the lines,” Page said.  

“Rent has gone up, so when people are trying to figure out ‘How do I pay for this?’, there are trade-offs that they are making. Unfortunately they are skipping meals, Fuller said. 

Hunger isn't only affecting adults; it actually may be hitting children the hardest. Fuller said the percentage of children in need of food assistance has risen since 2023.

“Normally there’s about 1 in 4 [children in need], about 25%, [but] that number has climbed to 29% and that’s concerning,” Fuller said. 

Despite seeing the increase, the food banks are making sure they address hunger in every corner of the community.

In 2007, 21 News became aware of a growing problem in our Valley - hunger.   And instead of just reporting on the problem, we created “Project: Feed Our Valley.” 

Now known as “Feed Our Valley,” the public service effort is now in its 18th year.  “Feed Our Valley” has educated people about hunger in our community.

It's also been a "call to action" to raise vital donations of food and money in order to feed our hungry neighbors.