LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Despite the record spending in Michigan and from the Biden administration with grants and other funding to underserved communities, more and more people in the state are currently relying on food banks – especially during the holiday season. Those food banks and other humanitarian organizations are struggling to keep up with the needs of Michigan residents – as well as newly settled Ukrainian refugees, asylum seekers and other illegal immigrants who have come into the state.

Bringing home the bacon to Michigan homes is not necessarily an easy task with rising inflation, stagnant wages, and Covid money running out. Pandemic-era benefits that were available through the government the past few years including expanded Medicaid availability, extended unemployment benefits, rental assistance and the extra money for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are no longer around to help keep struggling families afloat amid what’s being called “Bidenflation.”

MORE NEWS: Detroit Wants Land Bank to Answer Tough Questions

With pre-pandemic SNAP levels instituted and money stretched to its limits, Michiganders are not able to keep up with their grocery bills and that is resulting in families having to turn to food pantries – some of them for the first time.

Chad Audi, president and CEO of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, a non-profit that helps the hungry and homeless in Detroit, told Bridge Michigan, “We’re not going to have the same luxury that we had in past years,” explaining that the community members that they serve will have to get by with less. He went on to say, “We’re putting just the basic needs (in the boxes) for the families. We’re no longer giving them sweets and stuff like that. We’re compromising on the unnecessary stuff.”

The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries usually serves about 2,000 meals a day but in the past 18 months, those numbers have climbed to over 4,500. It’s one of many organizations trying to keep up with demand – all kinds of demand. Audi says, “We’re seeing more people needing our services, especially on emergency shelter programs, and people who are in need of food.”

The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, like many others, also has an “Adopt a Family” program for holiday necessities and toys. While they usually serve about 700 families, that number is also up. Up to a staggering 2,000 this year.

Toys for Tots organizations around the state are also seeing an increase in need – but not always an increase in donations to match. Anthony Palagallo, primary coordinator for the Toys for Tots in Sterling Heights, says that his organization had to scramble this year to provide about 3,000 more children in Wayne and Macomb counties toys for this Christmas. Palagallo says, “Jobs are scarce around the community and that’s the biggest thing. A lot of these families are out of work and they can’t provide Christmas for their children.”

In northern lower Michigan, the Father Fred Foundation, which runs a food pantry and serves Traverse Bay’s five-county region, has reported “astronomical” numbers in the last year. Executive Director Candice Hamel told Northern Express that visits to their pantry were spiked by 53% after the reduction of the SNAP benefits with a recorded 259 new households visiting their pantry just in September.

MORE NEWS: Dearborn Heights Looks To Ban Airbnb Type Short-Term Rentals

Forgotten Harvest, a food rescue organization that serves Macomb, Wayne and Oakland counties has more than 200 partner agencies (including soup kitchens and churches) is reporting 30% more clients on average between June of this year and November in comparison to the same time period from 2022.

In southeast lower Michigan, the Detroit News reports it’s the open border that is creating a crisis in Metro Detroit at United Community Family Services. Kristin Olmedo, president and CEO of the nonprofit, which mostly serves refugees and immigrants in the tri-county area, says, “We’ve never seen anything like this before and it’s been a challenge, to be honest, to be able to keep up with the numbers that we’re seeing come through our doors.” In the past year, they have seen a 43% increase in need.

The open borders are creating a problem with food pantry resources all over the country, not just in Michigan. At food pantries in Colorado, they say the demand is high and resources are running thin. Jenny Santos from Inside Servicios De La Raza in Denver talked to KDVR about trying to help his community as well as the new migrants in the city. She said, “It’s been extremely difficult to meet the demand of the required services. We had an influx of people coming in, making sure they are fed, plus our existing community. It has been very difficult.”

With mostly unchecked illegal immigration at the border, the influx of foreigners is only adding to the struggles of food banks and other organizations in the country who are trying to service those in need. In New York City in the neighborhood of Queens this Thanksgiving, the migrants got in line early to receive free turkeys and other trimmings. So many of them showed up that the regular residents who were depending on the holiday food weren’t able to receive a free meal.

A recent NBC News report confirms that things aren’t just difficult in Michigan. Food insecurity is a national problem – and it’s growing. Even though the news organization says the country is in a “strong” Biden economy, they admit that instead of seeing families prospering, they are reporting that those who serve the needs of the hungry are seeing the opposite, due to rising costs and shrinking programs available.

Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, head of Feeding America, which works with a network of 200 food banks says, “The demand is higher now than it ever was during the pandemic. This is not just one group’s issue, it’s an American issue. Hunger is an issue in America across every demographic group, and now, growingly, across more and more levels of income.”

That’s because food prices have gone up at least 25% since 2020 and everything else has increased as well – electric bills, vet bills, rent, car repair, etc. Persistent inflation has led to more and more people going hungry when Americans have to pick and choose which bills to pay.

A Census Bureau survey that was conducted at the end of October reported that the number of households who said they struggled to afford food at some point during the year increased to 17 million in 2022, which was up 26% from 2021. With inflation continuing to rise in most communities across the country, that number is sure to rise for 2023.

The federal government continues to report that things are getting better. However, that might be more of an election strategy than an analysis of real data as optimistic news out of the government does not match what is happening on the ground. Janet Ortigoza, a mother of a new 9-month-old, told NBC News, “You used to be able to get five bags of groceries for $50, now you only get one bag for $50. I am honestly scared to have another baby because I don’t think we will be able to provide for another baby. Now that she’s growing, she’s going to start eating three times a day, and just trying to provide the right nutrition to her, it’s hard.”