{"id":19087,"date":"2022-12-14T01:38:34","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T01:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19087"},"modified":"2022-12-13T19:41:52","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T19:41:52","slug":"hunger-coalition-responds-to-increasing-demand-from-food-insecure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/hunger-coalition-responds-to-increasing-demand-from-food-insecure\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunger Coalition Responds To Increasing Demand from Food-Insecure"},"content":{"rendered":"

500 families served each week in the Wood River Valley<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

BY HAYDEN SEDER<\/em><\/p>\n

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Volunteers with The Hunger Coalition pack bags and boxes for individuals and families seeking food help in the Wood River Valley. The organization has seen a 240% increase from what it was serving pre-pandemic. Photo credit: WRW staff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the last year, local organization The Hunger Coalition has averaged serving more than 500 families in the Wood River Valley each week, a 240 percent increase from what it was serving pre-pandemic. It\u2019s no secret that the pandemic and increase in remote work caused an influx of new residents to the area. But, more surprising is that with that increase of people came an increase in the need for food assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven before the pandemic, the amount of folks who needed food was higher than one might expect in an affluent community,\u201d said Kristin McMahon, communications manager for The Hunger Coalition. \u201cThen the pandemic hit as well as mass closures and layoffs \u2014 that made our numbers surge. What we found in the last year is that those numbers continue to climb at a time when we thought the dust might start to settle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the reasons that might still be affecting those numbers are people who moved to the area without realizing how high rent would be. The housing problem plaguing the area has created a disparity between wages and cost of living, meaning that sometimes those wages have to go to rent and leave little left over for food.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hunger Coalition provides food to its patrons through three weekly food distributions \u2014 two at their Bloom Community Food Center in Bellevue and one in Ketchum \u2014 as well as through their community kitchen and caf\u00e9. \u201cWe like to provide food access in a variety of ways to meet people where they are,\u201d said McMahon. But with the increase in demand, the organization saw a bigger strain on food distributions, and a call to arms was put out for more volunteers to help staff struggling to keep up with the need. Distribution was shifted to every other week when more food points are given to improve the flow of the system and accommodate as many people as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

None of this would be possible without the support of donors or partnerships with wholesalers and other places The Hunger Coalition sources food from. Members of the local community are also crucial, like new Hailey resident Brian DiJulio. Moving from Seattle to their new residence in Old Cutters in May, DiJulio and his wife wanted to do something to help their new community. After learning about The Hunger Coalition, DiJulio, the vice president of Seattle Italian Cultural Center Casa Italiania and president of DiJulio Pasta Co., decided to use his own resources to contribute. Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, DiJulio donated sixteen 15-pound turkeys and 25 bags of DiJulio pasta to the Bloom Community Food Center.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever comes up, I\u2019m all for it, if I can help locally or recruit people,\u201d said DiJulio. \u201cI appreciate the position The Hunger Coalition is in and the job they\u2019ve been doing; it\u2019s a vital part of this whole area staying alive and well, especially with so many immigrants working here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The help of the local community in supporting The Hunger Coalition and, by extension, the people it serves, cannot be underestimated. \u201cMonetary donations are definitely a crucial thing right now,\u201d said McMahon. \u201cWe had a great outpouring of volunteers when we asked for help, but as we continue to give out this level of food and reach a new level of need, we really just run on donor dollars and could use all the help we can get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The holiday season is a time for gathering with loved ones around bountiful meals; hopefully this year no one in the Wood River Valley will have to go without. Whether you have it in you to donate to The Hunger Coalition, volunteer your time, organize a food drive, or drop off some food to one of the Bloom bins located in all local grocery stores.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlways, we\u2019re eternally grateful for the way our community continues to step up, especially when the going gets tough,\u201d said McMahon. \u201cOur community proves we\u2019re not ones to stand idly by while our neighbors are struggling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

500 families served each week in the Wood River Valley BY HAYDEN SEDER In the last year, local organization The Hunger Coalition has averaged serving more than 500 families in the Wood River Valley each week, a 240 percent increase from what it was serving pre-pandemic. It\u2019s no secret that the pandemic and increase in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,72,8,88,18,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bellevue","category-community","category-food","category-local","category-news","category-nonprofit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19091,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19087\/revisions\/19091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}