And in October and November of this year, Share saw the highest numbers of individuals — 16,523 and 16,794, respectively — at Delco food pantries it has seen since the organization began serving the county.
Crowell said social programs that provided a lot of relief at the start of the pandemic are spreading around less relief.
“There was a huge rent relief program in Delaware County. Also, there were increased benefits through SNAP, depending on how many kids there were in the family,” Crowell said. “And so I think, yeah, we’re just seeing less support for these families in general, which means folks are back in the position even more so now of choosing: Do I pay for rent? Do I pay for food? Do I favor medical bills? How do I manage all of these different costs that I have?”
Inflation and the rising cost of food have made the situation even worse. On top of that, Share Food Program has seen a 50% reduction in the amount of food it receives from the federal government since the summer of 2021.
Nevertheless, Jess Bautista, the director of communications and external relations at Share Food Program, said the organization is consistently looking for ways to meet the growing need.
The Foundation for Delaware County is also seeing huge gaps in access to mental health services, especially for those expecting children.
“The challenges that we have seen are a lack of availability of services. There is a long, long, long waitlist for those needing services for pregnant moms or postpartum mothers. The cultural diversity is not expected to be there. We have a large population of people who are Spanish speaking in the county, and there’s not enough therapists who are bilingual and bicultural,” said Carolina Alshon, the social service coordinator with the foundation.
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