Surge in food insecurity prompts individual efforts, enhanced partnerships

John Boylan loves Thanksgiving in a way that transcends one meal on one day in late November.

“It’s my favorite holiday,” said Boylan, a structural building information modeler and artist. “In my free time, I like to research Thanksgiving. We have two or three families come over and have a big party.”

This year, though, “I figured instead of celebrating myself, I’d try to pass it on to someone else,” he said. “I was playing around with making a Thanksgiving music album, and in the process it felt really self-indulgent, so even though I was having a blast, I was like, I need to put these efforts into the world. Take this interest and help people.”

On his own, Boylan organized a food drive.

He put a collection spot at his own employer, EAPC Architects Engineers, at Whittier Middle School where his wife runs the school’s food pantry and at friends’ businesses around town, including Minnwest Bank’s Arrowhead and Louise locations, Remedy Brewing Co., Total Drag Records, Izzi’s Gym and Rainbow Comics, Cards & Collectibles. Community members are encouraged to contribute items such as canned vegetables, fruits, soups and beans; pasta; rice; and other shelf-stable goods.

After Izzi’s Gym was broken into recently, the owners “said that they would like people to help those that are actually struggling and fill up the food drive donation box,” Boylan said. “Less than 24 hours (later), I was at Izzi’s to help them clear up some floor space and empty the box.”

All donations will be collected through Friday, Nov. 28, with a celebration at Remedy on Wednesday, Nov. 26, featuring Bingo for a Cause, with prizes, refreshments and a live musical performance by a 6-foot turkey — otherwise known as Boylan in costume.

He plans to donate the food to Feeding South Dakota and The Banquet.

“The food drive is going great,” he said. “I’ve emptied three boxes already due to so many donations.”

An online effort he’s also running is on its way to reaching a $1,000 goal.

His contribution, and the countless others that have been made locally in recent weeks, are being literally consumed almost as fast as they’re donated.

Feeding America estimates that almost 114,000 people in South Dakota are facing hunger and almost 40,000 of them are children. Forty-six percent of households receive SNAP benefits, which were not available earlier this month during the government shutdown.

It causes organizations that already had seen an increase in needed food assistance to see even more demand.

“Food is our greatest need,” said Stacey Andernacht, vice president of public relations for Feeding South Dakota.

While Feeding South Dakota has seen fluctuations in its mobile food distribution programs as some locations transitioned to a partner in the community, the nonprofit still serves about 12,000 families every month.

Numbers spiked in early November during the government shutdown, with 1,500 additional families served at mobile sites compared with the prior month.

“For families that rely on a regular paycheck to ensure they can cover monthly expenses or rely on benefits like SNAP to buy groceries, the uncertainty of the shutdown was very disruptive,” Andernacht said.

“We do believe that we’ll see people still seeking food access as they try to catch up over the next several weeks, especially with the added expense the holiday season brings.”

The nonprofit began its fiscal year in July knowing that it was behind 1.5 million pounds of food inventory — “an amount that our budget cannot support to purchase, so the gap between those needing food and our resources was already wide,” she said.

“This caused us to make a difficult decision to reduce the amount of food people receive through some of our programs. In October, when we anticipated there would be an increased demand, we began using reserve inventory so that we could get extra food out to communities. We need to replace that reserve food inventory and regain the 1.5 million pounds just to meet the need we were serving before November.”

Protein items are the greatest need, and the most effective way to help is to donate funds, she said.

“As a food bank, our purchasing power allows us to stretch a dollar further than the average consumer,” Andernacht said. “Right now, donations are being matched, so they go twice as far.”

A $1 cash donation is estimated to provide six meals. Donate online here.

“Hunger exists at every age level and in every county, so we see a variety of people – from retired residents, to veterans, to young families, single parents, college kids and those telling us that they’ve never had to use food assistance before.”

Helpline Center maintains a food calendar for Sioux Falls and Rapid City, listing where to find daily meals, pantries and food giveaways. Find it here.

The number of requests for food through 211 varies monthly, said Jamie Cody, 211 director.

As of late October, there had been an average of 863 requests for food monthly in the past six months, ranging from 767 to 972. The highest month so far was August.

In addition to the food calendar, there’s information online to connect those in need with food-related resources.

That averages 2,589 views monthly and increased in October as SNAP benefits were threatened to be delayed. Data for November isn’t in yet, but “we are anticipating an uptick in food needs in November based upon the pause in the SNAP program,” Cody said.

At Feeding South Dakota, which partners with more than 230 agencies statewide, “we have the infrastructure to get food into communities across the state,” Andernacht said.

“Because of this, we’ve increased the amount of food that is going out through our programs so that where there is an increase, we can meet it. We’ve also been in conversation with our partners to understand what their needs may be so that we can get additional food to where it’s needed most.”

Although SNAP benefits have been restored and the shutdown is over, there’s still work to do to ensure that there’s food inventory for those unsure of where the next meal will come from, she added.

“Feeding South Dakota relies on the support of our community to help us put food on the table of our neighbors facing hunger, and we’re grateful for all the incredible ways we’ve seen people and businesses step forward these past few weeks.”

As for Boylan, he’s anticipating finishing strong as he picks up the final donations this week.

And in the meantime, he actually did get around to making that Thanksgiving album. You even can find vinyl copies at Total Drag Records.

Or, if you could use some seasonal cheer right this moment, here’s a link to listen. 

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