Food Scarcity in America Due to Pandemic, Here's Where You Can Get Free Meals

The country's leading hunger-relief group, Feeding America, estimates over 54 million people residing in the country will eventually face food scarcity.

That would be 17 million higher than it was before the outbreak of the coronavirus. Since March, the group has been seeing a 60 percent rise in food assistance demands.

Chief Operating Officer of Feeding America, Katie Fitzgerald, said, "What we've seen has been, unfortunately, a steady level of greatly, significantly increased need, since the pandemic started."

"About 40 percent of the people who are showing up for food distributions have never before had to rely on charitable food assistance," she added.

For marginalized communities, particularly low-income households, children, and older adults, this food security dilemma is beginning to worsen the already glaring healthcare disparities.

Non-profits with food distribution initiatives

FoodFinder is an Internet and smartphone application that lets parents and children, who have been experiencing food scarcity, locate free food distribution services near their homes.

A progressive project is the Little Free Pantry campaign. In order to be utilized by passersby who need it, residents stock small pantries with packaged goods, canned goods, and other food.

All over The us, this group is ready to provide 24-hour neighborhood accessibility to food and other essentials. To locate sites, use their online map.

WhyHunger has released a crowd-sourced map to link up with people in the U.S. and several communities worldwide with free food locations.

In every U.S. area, namely Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, Feeding America does have a system of 200 food banks, including 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. In many regions, the group and its partners have different low or no-contact choices open in lieu of the outbreak.

Federal food assistance resources

To help make ends meet throughout these tough times, many government services have also been available. To support many more victims during the pandemic, federal and state services have grown.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), previously known as the food stamps, is a government service, which provides low-income and no-income individuals with food buying assistance. To get assistance with your petition, you could also contact your nearest foodbank here.

WIC (Women and Infant Children) services include low-income people who have been pregnant and have children below five and under with healthy, supplemental food. In order to qualify, find out if you are registered and contact your state WIC department.

USDA

A National Hunger Hotline is operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to link individuals to local dining options, such as food locations, food banks, as well as other social services. You can contact everyone by calling 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE (Spanish) to talk to a member for free.

An interactive map named Meals for Kids Site Finder is also run by the USDA to let parents and children locate meal sites near them conveniently.