COLORADO SPRINGS — Heading into the holidays, inflation and high prices are impacting a local food bank and local families.
Many families who never needed help before, are turning to local food banks, like Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado.
“I have to go to food pantries and stuff like that just to be able to get what we need basically,” said Jake Hubbard.
The Hubbard family is a family of five in Colorado Springs. They said they've seen the biggest impacts on the cost of gas for their vehicles, their utilities bill, and groceries bill.
“Before all this started, I’d pay about two $300 a week in groceries, and now I’m paying between $500 and $600 a week in groceries,” said Jake.
With Thanksgiving two weeks away, they said their holidays, and what's on the table for dinner will look a little different this year.
“This year, more likely we won't have turkey. We’ll find a different meat of choice, and you know, it's going to be different. I can tell you that it's going to be different,” said Kimberly Hubbard.
Food is still getting more expensive, but at a slower pace than earlier this year. Groceries are up 12.4% from percent from a year ago, and that's increasing the price of your Thanksgiving dinner. The USDA says the average price of a frozen turkey is nearly $2 a pound, and that's 73% higher than last year.
While costs for Thanksgiving staples are also up, so is the need for help from Care and Share Food Bank.
“November and December are most definitely our busiest months just because of the holidays, and we really try to focus on getting as many families as we can that special holiday meal,” said Nate Springer, the CEO and President of the nonprofit organization.
He said in October, 600 new neighbors registered to go to the organization's food pantries.
“We’ve seen a whole new group of working class families that have kind of crossed the threshold into need for the first time,” said Springer.
As families are paying more for Thanksgiving this year, so is the organization. Costs of turkeys have gone up from $16.50 per turkey to $25 per turkey. Higher costs also come when distributing food across Southern Colorado.
“Thanksgiving dinner is going to be a lot more expensive this year than it was last year. So when you think about the food bank, it kind of creates the perfect storm for us, right? All of our costs, just like every business, are up."
While inflation may have eased in the past month, the Hubbard family says the holidays will still be tough for many.
“Just be courteous to one another. Have little bit of patience during the season because you don't know what the next person might be going through or what their situation is,” said Jake.
Care and Share Food Bank is also hosting the Harvest of Love food drive, which is the largest food drive of the year for the organization. For two weeks, they're working closely with 70 local schools to collect food. Each school has a different plan in place, to collect donations with the help of students, teachers, and families.
Next Friday, Nov 18, Care and Share Food Back is also inviting the community to donate a turkey to those in need. It’s for ‘take a turkey to work day.’ You can buy and drop off a turkey at participating King Soopers locations on that Friday. The turkeys will be picked up and distributed all across Southern Colorado on Saturday.
Care and Share Food Bank covers 31 counties in Colorado. Last year, the nonprofit served about 190,000 people and delivered 16 million meals across the state.
For more information about these efforts and Care and Share Food Bank, click here.
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