KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for local food banks, and here in West Michigan, Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes is preparing for the demand.
"We're serving about 12,000 food orders every month, which ends up being being about 3000 unduplicated households that we're serving every month," said Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes Associate Director, Greta Faworski.
She said they expect that number to increase ahead of Thanksgiving and December. So for people who want to donate, the items they need most are "pop top" goods, which are anything that families can easily prepare.
"We have a lot of individuals who are living in motels, or maybe they're in transitional housing and may not have real access to a big kitchen, or any kind of kitchen facility," she said. "We also are always looking for kind of specialty items for things like almond milk, or anything that might be gluten free, because we have a lot of families that are struggling. And those items are so expensive."
According to Western Michigan University professor Devrim Yaman, despite the currently high cost of groceries, the increase in prices is slowing down.
"Last month, the year to year rate was about 8.2%. But in October, that rate dropped a little bit. So the increase in consumer price index, but was 7.7%, lower than what we had expected," Dr. Yaman said.
She said this is great news for families shopping during the holidays, specifically low-income families. "It always pays to pay in bulk when you can and shop around and shop early because many companies have large inventories right now. So you may be able to catch a sale or two if you're able to shop early,"
For families that still need to grab a turkey, Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes will be hosting a giveaway Nov. 21.
