Millions of hungry Americans turn to food banks for 1st time
December 7, 2020 10:59AM AKST
Cars wait in line during a Greater Pittsburgh Community Food bank drive-up food distribution in Duquesne, Pa., Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. While food banks have become critical during the pandemic, they’re just one path for combating hunger. For every meal from a food bank, a federal program called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps _ provides nine. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
By SHARON COHEN AP National Writer
As a year marked by coronavirus nears an end, millions of Americans are depending on food banks to stave off hunger. Feeding America, the nation’s largest anti-hunger organization, has distributed 4.2 billion meals in an 8-month period. That’s an unprecedented pace in the group’s history. An Associated Press analysis of most of the group’s food banks found a nearly 57 percent increase in food distribution compared with last year. Experts say Latinos, Blacks, and households with children and women are among those at greatest risk of hunger.
