DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Eat Better Live Better is a food bank serving the Delray Beach community. Its volunteers rely on donations to keep their shelves stocked, but inflation is hitting them hard.
Founder Debra Tendrich said they are trying to serve twice as many families as they were a couple months ago, and the price of food is making it even harder to make that happen.
"The need has cleaned us out," Tendrich said. “We would buy a case of oatmeal for $35. It's almost $50 now. So, for us, we're feeding that many more families for that big of a price hike, it's almost impossible for us to sustain when we didn't have any way to prepare for this. This is worse than COVID."
Because of these challenges, they've been forced to cancel their upcoming distribution, and they've postponed hundreds of family care packages.
"It's the working families and seniors on a fixed income," Tendrich said. "Those are the new faces of hunger."
The Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce discussed the community's struggle to afford food at its most recent meeting.
Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce member Robert Safransky said he personally feels the need to help, and he wants others to do the same.
"The cost of living's more expensive. The cost of fuel's more expensive. The cost of food is more expensive," Safransky said. "We need to help people as a community, and we can make bigger change that way if we start here in the community."
Several other food banks in Palm Beach County said they are also dealing with a significant increase in need. Leaders with Farm Share, who hosts distributions in West Palm Beach, said they are calling on the state to help with funding so they can keep up with the increasing need in the community.
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