More than 1 million people in the D.C. region are food-insecure and nearly one-third of them are children, according to the Capital Area Food Bank.
“The need is still incredibly high across our region,” said food bank president and CEO Radha Muthiah, the CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank, which helps families in D.C. and Northern Virginia as well as Prince George’s and Montgomery counties in Maryland.
Last year, the Capital Area Food Bank distributed about 60 million meals’ worth of groceries. That’s 7 million meals greater than what it distributed in 2022 — and double what it distributed pre-pandemic.
Muthiah said the group is seeing an enormous amount of people who need additional support because the cost of living has gone up, but people are struggling to get enough work hours.
“Those who were working one or two jobs before have not been able to recover both jobs or all their hours, that they had pre-pandemic,” she said. “There’s less income coming in for those individuals.”
The cost of food has gone up about 20% on average, Muthiah said.
“Your income is not as high as it used to be, but the costs associated with living in this area and putting food on the table have increased quite substantially,” she said.
She also said some of the benefits and support that the government was providing during the pandemic have now been retracted.
“Macroeconomic indicators suggest that things are getting much better, and all of us are back to normal, and the pandemic is a point in history for us,” she said. “But that is just not the case for so many individuals across our region. It’s as if the pandemic was still ongoing for them in terms of the economic implications at the household level.”
The food bank relies on volunteers and financial donations. Every dollar provides two meals for a family in need, according to the food bank.
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