PENSACOLA, Fla. — Many families preparing for Thanksgiving meals are looking for help from food pantries this year.
The federal shutdown and impacts to SNAP benefits has forced “Feeding the Gulf Coast” to ramp up distributions. The organization is getting ready to give out 1,000 additional meals for Thanksgiving.
CEO Michael Ledger says many of the agency’s food pantries have depleted their stock already this year. He says, overall, distributions right now are up 50%.
“It’s [the chart] based on food insecurity rates provided by Feeding America,” according to Feeding the Gulf Coast. “They have what was referred to a ‘Meals Per Person in Need.’ So we are able to gain an understanding of the need in each community and aim to distribute based on that information.”…