Food insecurity on the rise across Massachusetts, no end in sight, providers say

Food insecurity is quickly on the rise across the state, hitting a level that food providers say mirrors what they saw during the thick of the pandemic.

A distribution at the Salvation Army Chelsea Corps Community Center had to shut down more than 2 hours early Thursday after employees and volunteers supplied all 1,200 food boxes they had on hand in less than 4 hours.

The crew provided roughly 900 boxes worth five days of food, hygiene supplies and baby formula by noon. After running out of the bigger boxes, 300 families received the remaining smaller boxes, worth just two days of food.

The 1,200 families served is what the Chelsea community center averaged daily in 2021, said Jeffrey Bailey, the Salvation Army’s director of social services. He connected the massive demand to inflation.

“I’m a big boy, I love eggs, but even I can’t afford to go into the store and get eggs,” Bailey said. “This is no longer supplemental food we are giving. This is what they’re going to live off of for the rest of the week.”

Food prices remain sky-high. Costs rose 0.3% in February, the smallest monthly gain in nearly two years, but they’re still up more than 10% from a year ago.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts grocery prices to increase 8.6% this year, and all food costs to grow more slowly than in 2022, when products jumped 9.9%.

Some residents from Chelsea, East Boston and neighboring communities start waiting in line on distribution days as early as 5 a.m., said Omar Rolon, who oversees the Salvation Army’s Chelsea location. Boxes are also provided on Tuesdays, when more clients are usually seen, Rolon said.

“The emergency is real,” he said. “A few months ago, we were able to store food, but now everything is going.”

The number of clients served at distributions dropped to a low of 600 less than a year ago, officials said.

East Boston resident Marta Nunez stopped by to pick up groceries for her and her three children ages 9, 10 and 12.

“It helps me a lot because everything in the supermarket is expensive,” she said through a translator. “We don’t have too much money.”

Food providers say they’re not sure when they will see relief as there are no signs that inflation will be ending anytime soon.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday extended its year-long fight against inflation by raising its key interest rate by a quarter-point despite concerns that higher costs could worsen the turmoil that has gripped the banking system.

The Greater Boston Food Bank is doing all it can to help people in need get through, said Catherine Lynn, the agency’s vice president of communications and public affairs.

More than 2,000 pounds of food are being distributed to its 500 partner organizations weekly, a 60% increase compared to pre-pandemic, Lynn said. Even with that jump, it’s still a challenge to meet the ramped-up demand, she said.

Food bank officials are calling on the state legislature to add another $10 million to its $30-million line item in the state budget so it can buy more food that can then be distributed, Lynn said.

“We want to continue being helpful,” she said, “but we really do need the support of our government partners and the general public.”

Diana Perry, social services coordinator at the Salvation Army’s Lynn location, said she’s seeing at least 180 families coming out to each of her center’s three distributions a week, double the amount that were served in mid February.

State residents who participate in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are no longer receiving extra money they had been securing during pandemic. The expiration of the supplemental payments is also leading to the increase, Perry said.

“I understand that the pandemic has calmed down,” she said, “but as an effect of that pandemic, look where we are with prices. Our prices weren’t like this before the pandemic. This is the aftermath. People are really, really struggling.”