Coronavirus

Millions of Americans Going Hungry as Pandemic Erodes Incomes and Destroys Communities

“There's going to be an enormous wave of people who are going to need our services. We alone can't create a strong enough safety net for the need that’s coming"

Jeremy Hogan / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images In this April 13, 2020, file photo, a driver from Hoosier Hills Food Bank delivers food at Pantry 279 to help those experiencing food insecurity during the COVID-19/coronavirus stay-at-home order. Hoosiers have been ordered to only travel for essential needs.

As jobs vanish, incomes drop and food prices rise, more Americans are going to bed hungry — and advocates warn that without intervention from Congress, those numbers could rise to a level unseen in modern times, NBC News reports.

"People who never thought they'd experience food insecurity are now seeking food assistance," said Luis Guardia, president of the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center.

A study from Northwestern University's Institute for Policy Studies found that the pandemic roughly doubled food insecurity in the United States. The food assistance nonprofit Feeding America estimates that with household finances decimated by the coronavirus, around 40 percent of people visiting food banks are first-time recipients of food assistance.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

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