More people have turned to food pantries to make ends meet in recent months, and St. Louis-area food banks expect that demand to rise as a freeze of SNAP benefits in Missouri looms.
A recent forecast from the St. Louis branch of the Federal Reserve reported a “slightly pessimistic” economic outlook and pointed to increased use of food pantries throughout the region as an indicator of a straining economy.
“Community contacts report rising food pantry usage among both low- and middle-income households, growing reliance on ‘buy now, pay later’ services, and elevated credit card delinquency rates,” said the region’s report in the Federal Reserve’s October Beige Book publication…