- The Utah Food Bank is urging Utahns to donate during the Feed Utah drive.
- CEO Ginette Bott highlights ongoing food insecurity affecting 445,000 Utahns, including children.
- Rising costs force families to cut food expenses; donations needed at participating stores.
SALT LAKE CITY — Inside the Utah Food Bank warehouse, forklifts move steadily between rows of pallets as workers sort and distribute food for pantries across the state.
For those who work there, the mission is simple. It's all about fighting hunger.
"It's what we do day in and day out," Ginette Bott, president and CEO of the Utah Food Bank, said.
But Bott said the work can also be emotional.
"There's always lots of tears at the Utah Food Bank," she said. "We look around, we see these families. They don't want to be in these situations."
The Utah Food Bank distributed nearly 70 million pounds of food last year, providing the equivalent of about 58 million meals to pantries, families and individuals across the state.
However, the need for help remains high.
"The need with hunger doesn't go away if I feed you one time. It's a constant," Bott said. "People say, 'Well, I donated to you during the holidays.' Yes, you did, and thank you. But now we're into spring. School is going to end in a couple of months. Breakfast and lunch are going to go away. We're into the summer season. Hunger knows no season."
According to the Utah Food Bank, about 445,000 Utahns, and 1 in five children, experience some type of food insecurity, meaning they don't know where their next meal will come from.
Bott said the demand for help has remained elevated since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"COVID numbers really didn't ever go down for us across the state," she said. "They continued to increase and right now, not only are they alarming, they're frightening."
Rising costs for everyday expenses and gas prices increasing are major reasons many families are turning to food pantries for help.
"If you look at all of these families that are being impacted and most of these families are working, but the jobs aren't paying enough to meet the high prices of rent, day care, (and) gas prices, we know are going up," Bott said. "Every single thing that can impact a budget is addressed before they purchase food."
As a result, Bott said food often becomes one of the first expenses families are forced to cut.
To help meet that growing demand, the Utah Food Bank is partnering with Associated Food Stores for the annual Feed Utah food drive, which runs through Saturday.
During the drive, shoppers can donate food items at participating grocery stores across the state.
Donations are collected and then distributed through the Utah Food Bank's statewide network of pantries and agencies.
"Unless people have experienced hunger or have someone very close to them who really goes through it, they may not understand it, but what we can understand is if we aren't experiencing that, we can help those who are," Bott said.
The food bank said some of the most-needed items include peanut butter, canned meats, chili and boxed meals.
Bott said the organization knows the work will never truly be finished, but seeing the smiles on people's faces when they receive help is worth the tears.
"Those of us who work this day in and day out recognize the mission of fighting hunger statewide," she said. "We know our job will never be done, but we want to do the job the best we possibly can," she said.
