Lisa Hamler-Fugitt
Gardens, pantries and food banks: How Ohio tries to keep pace with hunger
A gallon of gas or a dozen eggs costs less than it did a few months ago, but it remains difficult for many Ohioans to make ends meet. While the newly approved state budget provides some funding for food assistance, the battle against hunger continues. State lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate hashed out […]
After the end of COVID-era benefits, 70k older Ohioans struggle to fight hunger
After Congress ended pandemic food assistance in February, 70,000 older Ohioans have seen food benefits slashed to $23 a month, in some cases down from $280. That has many making excruciating choices between food, medicine and utilities like electricity and gas, Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, said Wednesday. And while […]
Climate, pandemic conspire against hungry Ohioans
In addition to overseas wars and continuing supply-chain disruptions, diseases and climate-driven storms are making it hard to feed the hungriest Ohioans, Ohio’s top food bank official said Friday. And that’s even as continuing inflation is creating ever more of them, she said. “We’re just not seeing a return to normal at all,” said Lisa […]
Ohio foodbanks get $15 million from the state
Faced with the prospect of a punishing winter, the Ohio Association of Foodbanks is lauding Gov. Mike DeWine’s decision to award them $15 million in unspent federal coronavirus funds to buy protein-rich food for their clients. Supply bottlenecks, increased fuel costs, commodity inflation and a lack of farm labor have strained the foodbanks’ ability to […]
Feds to provide $50M in food assistance to Ohio
Ohio’s foodbanks say they’re desperate as summer is turning to fall. Demand has skyrocketed with increasing food costs at the same time that their resources have evaporated. And with current supply chain disruptions, they need to order food now if they hope to have it when winter comes. And even though the state is sitting […]
“We’re desperately worried about food.” For Ohio foodbanks, a bad situation gets worse.
Ohioans have seen some respite from high fuel costs in recent months. But those who provide food to millions of poor people in the state say their situation is only deteriorating. Global supply-chain problems, labor shortages, the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and other mega-trends are all combining to make them worry for the first time that they just won't have enough food for everybody who needs it, Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, said on Monday.
Going hungry: Pandemic, inflation, supply issues prompt cry for help
As state leaders spend money on other things, the Ohio Association of Foodbanks this week issued an extraordinary plea for assistance, saying many rural foodbanks are rationing food and those in other parts of the state soon will be. From the coronavirus pandemic to supply chain disruptions and inflation, to Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, […]
Ohioans go hungry as state sits on a huge stack of money
Some food banks are slashing the amounts of food they give people. At the same time, Ohio and many other states are sitting on enormous piles of cash, and a spokesman for Gov. Mike DeWine was vague last week when asked how the governor would like to use that money.
With inflation, supply-chain kinks, plight of Ohio food banks grows
For millions of Ohioans, world events are making it harder to fill their pantries and refrigerators, an official who helps oversee the state’s food banks said on Wednesday. Those pressures will only increase pantries’ need for state assistance, she said. The coronavirus pandemic had already put pressure on the state’s food banks as demand increased […]
Ohio foodbanks starting to go hungry
As the coronavirus pandemic enters its third year, Ohio’s foodbanks are in a perilous state, an official who helps run them said Wednesday. The centers have gotten through the crisis with special relief funds and help from the National Guard. But as happened repeatedly through the pandemic, foodbanks are facing increasing strains as temporary relief […]
On the front lines of the poverty fight, the struggle for resources continues
On the front lines of the poverty fight, the struggle for resources continues
Help is on the way, but hunger still confronts a vast swath of Ohio
When Congress passed a $900 million covid-relief package just before Christmas, it contained good news for legions of desperate Americans. But one of Ohio’s top advocates against hunger said it won’t be nearly enough. Among its provisions is a four-month, 15% increase in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive […]