When a family falls on hard times, local charitable organizations are there to meet basic needs like clothing, utility bills, and food.

But, when an entire community, state, or country has fallen on hard times, those critical elements of the safety net often face hardship, too.

On a recent visit to the food bank in Lansing, where the Michigan League for Public Policy is based, I saw firsthand how the continuing pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation are squeezing our emergency feeding network just as those things squeeze the struggling Michigan families who rely on the food bank.

The Greater Lansing Food Bank’s shelves were only about 15% full.

Food banks serving other parts of the state are facing similar challenges.

Since the pandemic began in 2020, the U.S. has seen skyrocketing inflation, much of that driven by extraordinary increases in food prices. Just as it’s become more difficult for families to afford sufficient food, food banks are receiving fewer donations and their dollars don’t go as far as they used to. Donations to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, which serves Alpena and 21 other counties, are down 35%, and the amount the food bank has had to purchase has more than doubled.

Although the economy is recovering according to several metrics, the benefits are not spread across our population equally. While corporate profits have reached 70-year highs, workers and their families are being left behind.

According to the U.S. Census Pulse Survey, as recently as November, 669,295 Michigan adults reported that their households sometimes or often don’t have enough to eat, and 365,479 said they had to rely on free groceries to get by within the last week.

In Alpena County, 23% of kids are in families that use food assistance and more than half of children ages 0 to 5 receive Women, Infants, Children, or WIC, benefits. Still, the gap between the cost of food families need and what they can afford to pay is over $2,000,000 per year, and one of every seven residents is going hungry.

Food banks are a last resort for those households that fall through the sizable holes in our public safety net. When food banks don’t have the resources to fulfill their mission of serving people in crisis, our communities are in serious trouble.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can urge your elected officials to both meet the current dire need for emergency food and ensure food security for all Michiganders in the long term.

With the new legislative session beginning next month, now is the time to put food access on your lawmakers’ radar.

First, tell your state legislators to support policies like this year’s proposal that could have helped local food banks purchase fresh produce, dairy, meat, and seafood, with a priority on Michigan products. That could be a triple win in 2023: fighting hunger, supporting our state’s farmers, and keeping money in our local economies.

Also, Michigan can expand its Earned Income Tax Credit, which is proven to support employment and economic security for families with low incomes, especially those with children. The EITC helps families pay for critical needs like housing without having to sacrifice other basic needs, such as food. Economists say expanding the EITC would have a particularly uplifting impact on rural communities in the northern Lower Peninsula.

At the federal level, you can urge your members of Congress to provide universal free school meals and otherwise strengthen important child nutrition programs through a Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill.

Fifty-six percent of Alpena County’s K-12 students receive free or reduced-price lunch so they have the nutrition they need to do their best in school. Providing free meals to all students would improve education outcomes, eliminate stigma for kids from families with low incomes, reduce the administrative burden on schools, and make life more convenient for parents at all income levels.

Food banks and strong public nutrition programs are critical to the state’s continued prosperity. It will take Michigan families a long time to completely recover from a catastrophic event like a global pandemic, but, with those simple budget and policy solutions, we can speed things up and better prepare our communities and our state to weather future hardships.

Julie Cassidy is senior policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy.