Thanksgiving: Americans queue at food banks amid coronavirus downturn

Poverty rates have spiralled across the US, turning donors into recipients at food banks

A woman takes a holiday box of food from the Food Bank For New York City ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in Harlem. Reuters

A woman looks through a box of canned food during a Thanksgiving food distribution event at Food Bank For New York City in Harlem. AFP

Bread for the City is one of the non-profit organisations trying to safely meet the spike in food insecurity in Washington DC. Courtesy of Bread for The City

Bread for The City delivers food packages. Courtesy of Bread for The City

Turkeys are given to residents at a food distribution event ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in Brooklyn, New York City. AFP

Volunteer Sean Armstrong hands turkeys to volunteer Nina Norwood at Harlem's Food Bank For New York City, a community kitchen and food pantry. AP Photo

A person holds their ticket for a turkey during a Thanksgiving food distribution event at Food Bank For New York City in Harlem. AFP

Pallets of food are seen during a Thanksgiving food distribution event at Food Bank For New York City in Harlem. AFP

Volunteer Daisy Valdivia, of Forth Worth, Texas, takes down information from a person waiting in line to receive food items during a Tarrant Area Food Bank mobile pantry distribution event in Arlington, Texas. AP Photo

US Army soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division hand out frozen turkeys and other food items during a Tarrant Area Food Bank mobile pantry distribution event in Arlington, Texas. AP Photo

Volunteers build bags of dry goods in a parking lot outside of AT&T Stadium during a Tarrant Area Food Bank mobile pantry distribution event in Arlington, Texas. AP Photo

People line up in their cars to receive Thanksgiving meal boxes that include turkey and pantry items during the largest food giveaway of the Tarrant Area Food Bank at AT&T Stadium parking lot in Arlington, Texas. Star-Telegram via AP

Volunteers Jailene Cruz and Genesis Maldonado sort food at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank distribution center in Los Angeles, California. Reuters

Kristen McKenna, center, and other volunteers pack boxes of food outside Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine, California. AP Photo

People wait in line as the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank distributes food outside in Los Angeles, California. Reuters

A woman leaves with a wagon of food as the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank distributes food outside a church in Los Angeles, California. Reuters

It’s an all-American-holiday, a time to come together and give thanks. But with a pandemic ravaging the country, and poverty and food insecurity on the rise, the US will mark a sombre Thanksgiving this Thursday as millions grow dependent on food banks for help.

The scenes of thousands of Americans in cars and long lines queuing outside food pantries in Houston, New York city, Boston, and Los Angeles are beyond what the country has experienced since the Great Depression.

With 16.7 per cent of the population in poverty according to Columbia University’s Centre on Poverty and Social Policy, 10 million Americans still out of work, and the government failing to pass another stimulus, the Covid-economy is hitting those in need the hardest.

Outside a food pantry in Warrenton, a middle-class town in the state of Virginia, the line for free Thanksgiving items stretched through the car park last Friday.

Katarina Carrillo said this is the first time she has stood in such a line. “I used to donate to food banks, but now me and my family need this,” Ms Carrillo, who lost her job as a waitress said while waiting in line for a Thanksgiving basket.

Not far from her is Lorena Maradiaga, who was working as a housekeeper before the pandemic and now finds herself unemployed. “I don’t like it but I have no choice,” she said.

Their stories are repeated at food banks across the country that are doubling their efforts to keep up with increased demand. The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) registered its largest food donation ever to date last week.

More than 6,000 cars and nearly 25,000 people were served by the organisation. Footage of the event that went viral online recorded distribution of 600,000 pounds of food, including 7,280 turkeys.

Bread for the City is one of the non-profit organisations that has galvanised a network of volunteers as well as partnering with Uber Eats and Amazon deliveries to try and safely meet the spike in food insecurity in Washington DC, the country’s capital.

In March, before the pandemic's impact was felt, the organisation was donating 1,290 bags per month. This number skyrocketed to 19,102 deliveries in June and is close to 10,000 now according to their data.

George Jones, the chief executive officer of Bread for the City, describes a challenge to meet the spike in demand and poverty in the city. "The poverty rate has gone up in DC from 100,000 to 150,000… we are trying to meet the increased volume we have received, sometimes it fluctuates between 400 to 1000 households a day," Mr Jones told The National in a phone call.

Mr Jones’ organisation has opted for deliveries and gift cards this year as a safe measure during the pandemic. That adds to the strain to deliver a fresh holiday turkey bird, which Bread for the City has substituted with a $50 gift card for over 15,000 recipients in need.

Attracting new donors during a tough economy is also a challenge for these food banks. But Mr Jones sees increasing empathy and some encouraging signs despite the hardships.

“The pandemic has helped in giving rebirth to the US civil rights movement and created a political will in the country to tackle some of systematic issues that cause food insecurity.” The need across different communities, despite it being higher among Black and Latino populations, has created more empathy, he argued.

That political will is evident in an open conversation about racial justice and economic inequity, and in Congress through the passing of a historic $2 trillion stimulus package last May known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

But with political polarisation accentuated across the US government, failure to renew both the CARES act and federal unemployment insurance will see vital support structures dry up in the coming months.

A nationwide eviction moratorium protecting renters unable to pay due to coronavirus job losses will also expire by the end of the year. If Congress and the White House fail to act, 12 million Americans would lose current benefits and 40 million renters could be evicted.

Zachary Parolin, a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Centre on Poverty & Social Policy at Columbia University, warned that the continued political stagnation will only deepen America’s food insecurity and poverty issues.

"Our evidence suggests that poverty rates have increased in the US after the expiration of the key income supports from the CARES Act. The poverty rate in the US is now higher than before the start of the crisis, and higher than the rate in April and May when the unemployment rate was actually higher," Mr Parolin told The National.

“Given that the high rate of unemployment will likely persist for some time, families will continue to struggle in the absence of more income support. This will likely lead to higher rates of food insecurity, more evictions… we should be deeply concerned about both the short- and long-term effects that this crisis will have on families with children,” he added.

The centre’s study published last month saw the number of those in poverty in the US grow by eight million since May. “Black people and Latinos are more than twice as likely as white people to be poor,” it found.

This Thanksgiving, the pandemic economy has taken its toll, and Americans who never thought they would be standing in line for food are doing just that. With a Covid-19 vaccine on the horizon and the US economy slowly recovering, many hope that the next Thanksgiving will be less taxing.