South Florida Food Banks Struggling To Meet Holiday Needs
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - It's going to be harder for food banks in South Florida to get turkeys on the tables of struggling families this year.
Rising inflation has driven up the cost of everything from poultry to cranberry sauce and that means food pantries are not getting as much in the way of donations.
The pantry of Broward which supplies monthly boxes of food to 500 families including a Thanksgiving box, says this year their Thanksgiving drive yielded just ten thousand pounds of food compared to a year ago when 17,000 pounds of food were donated.
"Something like gravy was 64 cents and now it's a dollar and that's happening over and over again," said Broward pantry CEO Maureen Luna.
Luna says turkeys aren't as plentiful with the average cost now at $15 compared to a year ago when it was $10 dollars.
"Many of our donors who've given a lot of turkeys in previous years aren't able to give as many because of the rising costs and as a result, we have had to go out and find others to help," said Luna.
On Thursday, some of that help arrived from New Calvary Evangelical Church in Davie with a carload full of food for the holiday.
"It would have been more if it weren't for the pandemic," said Jude Cher-Aime.
Wallace Montgomery, 73, who is disabled received a box of food Thursday. He said it is a lifesaver.
"I would end up under a bridge. Getting this food helps me keep it together" he said.
Click here to make a donation to the Pantry of Broward.