If you spend any time in Highlands, you know how big the role is that nonprofit organizations play in daily life.
Perhaps no organization has more first-hand community contacts than the Highlands Food Pantry, and while the organization is doing its absolute best to meet increased demand, executive director TJ Smith did not mince words when he said the food pantry is in need of monetary donations.
With inflation forcing the price of food products to new heights, and more people than ever before using the food pantry, the budget is getting tight. In the past year, the food pantry has seen more than 100 percent increase in clients, from 930 in January 2022, to 2,000 in January 2023.
Smith noted that the pantry paid $2,500 in food costs in January 2022. That expenditure ballooned to $10,898 for January 2023. Spending more than four times as much on food is a tall budgeting hurdle, regardless if it’s a household budget or a nonprofit organization.
While the food pantry will certainly accept donations of non-perishable food items, the hard-earned dollar goes a lot further toward making ends meet. Thanks to purchasing agreements with the US Department of Agriculture and other organizations, the food pantry can purchase more food per dollar than any individual person can while paying retail prices.
To that end, Smith has made donating online through the food pantry website (www.internationalfriendshipcenter.org) easier and more convenient. There is now a large graphic on the homepage for anyone wishing to make a donation.
Supply shortages, rising costs due to inflation, and ever-growing demand for services show no signs of slowing down. Making sure that our neighbors in need who make use of the food pantry continue to get nutritious items to fill their buggies is more important than ever.
No one should go to bed hungry, and the Highlands Food Pantry is on the front lines of the war on hunger every week. Let’s all do what we can to help.