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With more than a month to go until school is back in session, families around the area are having to dig a little deeper this summer. Children are home more often and inflation is still eating more of people’s funds, leaving them asking 'Where’s the money'.
When summer is in session, parents understand kids who are at home all day have to eat. But for some families, they’re making survival decisions based on how their household finances look.
It's also an issue for Charlotte-area food panties trying to keep up.
The Crisis Assistance Ministry in Gaston County, which serves nearly the entire county, is seeing astronomical need.
"We’ve seen an increase in need for food and we’ve seen a decrease in donations," said executive director Kim Wheeler. "We're 20% up on our food requests from last June. Just did a quick look and seen that since January we’ve helped 1,000 families with food."
Crisis Assistance Ministries is supported by the faith community. Their work is critical; they’ve helped 200 families in June alone with just food, a monumental undertaking that they’re not backing down from.
Wheeler told WCNC Charlotte anchor Colin Mayfield that the pantry itself is having a hard time keeping up with demand, and they’re not the only organization in this position. With inflation still impacting goods at the grocer, budgets are stretched to the max.
"A lot of things that are more expensive items that people depend on us for that we aren’t able to receive," she said. "Some of the items that are more expensive like peanut butter, which is a good protein for kids to have access to - those things we’re getting less of. Like cereal, we’re all out of it right now."
Wheeler said the Crisis Assistance Ministry is working to bolster their stock, just like many of the families with parents working two or three jobs trying to make ends meet. It’s a cycle no one can stay ahead of right now.
Donations are needed, both in food and in money. If you'd like to help, you can give online.
Contact Colin Mayfield at cmayfield@wcnc.com or follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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