Freestore Foodbank responds to rising hunger
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Greater Cincinnati's largest food bank is investing more money to feed local families this summer amid rising food insecurity, especially among children.
Why it matters: Even working families have little cushion for rising costs or unexpected expenses, like replacing food spoiled by a power outage.
Driving the news: Nearly 292,000 people across Freestore Foodbank's 20-county service area in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana experienced food insecurity in 2024, per the most recent data in Feeding America's "Map the Meal Gap" report.
- That's up about 7% from 2023, while the number of food-insecure children jumped over 10% to roughly 90,700.
Yes, but: Freestore CEO Kreg Keesee says the need has only grown since then.
The big picture: Hunger increasingly reaches beyond households that qualify for federal help.
- Nationally, nearly half of people experiencing food insecurity in the 2024 data had incomes too high to receive federal nutrition assistance.
In response, Freestore's board approved an additional $500,000 for its Summer Initiative as it works to keep up with demand, particularly among children.
- The money is helping stock its markets, expand community and back-to-school distributions and support school pantries.
Adding pressure: This week's storms left some households without power long enough that they had to toss refrigerated or frozen groceries.
- SNAP recipients who lost food during storm-related outages can apply for replacement benefits worth up to their monthly benefit amount.
- Families only have a few days to apply. The deadline tied to the most recent storm is Aug. 21.
Freestore is working with local pantries and partner agencies to get food, including items that don't need to be heated, into hard-hit communities.
- They'll use money from corporate donations to get food through community agencies and closer to residents who need it, Keesee says.
More help is needed. Keesee views the latest hunger report as a "call to action."
- He’s asking Cincinnatians to donate money or food, volunteer, organize food or fund drives and advocate for policies addressing hunger.
- "Behind every statistic is a child, family, senior or working adult making difficult choices between food and other necessities."