The head of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina says demand for food help has now passed the level it reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The need right now is higher than we saw at the height of the pandemic,” President and CEO Amy Beros told ABC11 in a report published Oct. 24.
The food bank’s region covers 34 counties, from Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill to Wilmington, Greenville and the Sandhills. About 629,980 people there are food insecure, roughly one in seven residents, according to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap figures cited by the food bank.
The warning comes as federal SNAP rules tighten in North Carolina and counties absorb new costs to run the program. For working families and seniors on fixed incomes, a lost or delayed benefit now pushes more people toward food pantries that the food bank says are already stretched.
The Numbers Behind the Warning
The regional total is up by nearly 180,000 people since the 2021 pandemic peak, WUNC reported in September. The count includes almost 100,000 seniors living at or below the poverty line and 191,000 children, Beros said…