Laurel Alcantar with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank says this fiscal year, her team served 40% more clients than last year, attributing the spike to prolonged inflation and seasonal jobs in the area.
But amid their increase in demand, the Foodbank has seen a dip in donations.
Ahead of Thanksgiving, the Foodbank set a goal to collect 4,000 donated turkeys, but by the end of their annual Turkey Drive, they only had 800.
“Even some of our supporters are feeling the pinch of the economy right now, so it took us a while to get to the point where we had a sufficient number to cover holiday distributions in November,” Alcantar said.
She adds that the extreme weather seen last winter left many seasonal farmworkers out of jobs for parts of the year, driving up demand.
“As we look into December, we are again looking at more need as even more people who are working in agriculture and those seasonal jobs are temporarily laid off,” she added.
Coupling that with the increased cost of living, Precious Subia from Santa Maria says she understands why donations have slowed this holiday season.
“Cans of beans, tuna — my family used to have stacks of them, extra. But they have gone up $2 more than what they used to be, so now we don’t have any extra. We don’t even buy it at all,” she told KSBY.
Maria Ruiz, meanwhile, who donates to the Foodbank and volunteers during the holidays, says doing so is a priority despite higher costs.
“This is a difficult time for everyone. Everything is so expensive, so we try to help,” she said.
While the Foodbank’s Turkey Drive is over, Alcantar says donations are still being accepted through KSBY’s Season of Hope campaign, as well as their other community initiatives.
“It makes such a difference to just see the relief on families’ faces when they know they are going to have food on the table,” Alcantar said.
She says as a result of the decrease in donations, the Foodbank has had to purchase more food themselves than they normally would. And as there are no signs of demand slowing down, her team is encouraging more help from the community.
The Foodbank’s first healthy food distribution of the holiday season will be taking place on Saturday, December 13 at the Santa Maria Fairpark. Anyone in the community is welcome.
