Oklahoma food bank demand spiking in metro area as residents are squeezed by inflation

Stephen Kage had just retired from Devon Energy in 2016, but he quickly realized he needed something else to do — a “reason to wake up in the morning,” he said. During his time as a supervisor at the energy company, he’d regularly helped organize the corporation’s annual fundraisers for different nonprofits in the area, and he remembered selecting a local food bank as the site for several of his company’s team-building exercises.

“When you get up in the morning, you need a purpose to get up, and the Regional Food Bank is that purpose, at least three days out of a week, for me,” Kage said. “I just think it’s part of our social requirement to help the people who aren’t quite as fortunate as most of us are to be able to buy their own food.”

The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, headquartered at 3355 S Purdue Ave., has been a leader in the fight against hunger in central and western Oklahoma for more than four decades. It is the state’s largest hunger-relief nonprofit, distributing food to hungry school-age children, older adults living on fixed incomes and working-class adults struggling to make ends meet.

Now, faced with increased demand for food amid high inflation, the food bank is seeing a drastic increase in the use of its services and resources. Online search interest for the food bank surged by 5,000% in the state, according to Google representatives. Volunteers like Kage, and staff members like CEO Stacy Dykstra, are seeing hundreds of visitors every month who have never been before.

“Every month, we’ve seen people that we’ve never seen before, and it’s heartbreaking for us to see,” Dykstra said. “I watch the numbers coming out of (our) Food and Resource Center that’s in Moore, to keep a close track of what’s probably happening, and about 1 out of every sixth person who comes in there has never been there before.”

That’s about 200 to 300 new individuals every month, Dykstra said. The demographics that suffered the most during the pandemic have not yet recovered, she added. Among the most impacted include single-parent households with children under the age of 6, families of color and single working-age adults.

When Kage started volunteering for morning and afternoon shifts six years ago, he met a coordinator working at the food bank who told him she had often used its resources to get by during her college years.

“Hunger is lurking in every corner of our society,” Kage said. “It’s everywhere, and we just don’t always recognize it or see it. But the folks at the Regional Food Bank know it’s a real concern.”

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As visitors flood food banks, volunteers sought for all times of the year

Dykstra described the past year’s struggles as a “trifecta” of inflation, underemployment and lingering after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Leadership at the food bank said they always see the most volunteers in November and December, which they attribute to widespread sentiments of “holiday spirit” when metro-area residents are most easily able to donate hours and resources to charitable causes.

In fact, when Kage looked at the food bank’s website to sign up for December volunteer shifts during an interview with The Oklahoman, he noticed most weekends for that month were already at or near full capacity.

But he expects a steep decline in volunteers for January and February, because it’s what happens every year.

“It’s very unfortunate, because hunger doesn’t take a break,” Kage said. “Hunger is with us throughout the year.”

Dykstra said this consistent drop in volunteering is likely due to the “squeeze” people often feel directly following the holidays, after spending is at its highest and the year-end intervals of vacation time are offered by schools and employers.

“The holidays are expensive, and (people) are using any extra money they’ve got because they want to give,” Dykstra said. “These are all giving, loving people, you know? But then you find yourself in January and February, where there isn’t any extra money, so if something goes wrong, there’s an immediate crisis.”

To Dykstra and Kage, this translates to heightened need at the start of the year, but with fewer resources.

“We know that happens, so we try to plan accordingly so that we can make sure we’re meeting everyone’s needs,” Dykstra said. “But it really is an interesting dynamic that I think a lot of people don’t always think about. And we need every bit of help that we can get to fulfill these needs.”

Google donates $250,000 to Regional Food Bank to help combat hunger

But the hard work this year of Kage and other volunteers and staff at the food bank has not gone unnoticed.

Monday, representatives of Google arrived at the Regional Food Bank’s Volunteer Center in Oklahoma City to announce a philanthropic grant awarded to the food bank. The total amounted to $250,000.

The announcement served as part of a larger initiative between Google and the Feeding America relief network, of which the Regional Food Bank is a key partner, and through which the coalition plans to scale the food bank’s operations to improve access to its resources for families living in the service area who are in need.

“Addressing food insecurity requires a sustained and coordinated approach,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said in a statement regarding the announcement. “We’re proud to partner with Feeding America to deliver over 50 million meals (nationwide) to people in need, and to work with them to strengthen their technology infrastructure.”

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Google analytics point to Oklahoma's needs regarding food this year. The state is the fifth-highest in searches for “food shortage” in 2022, and the No. 1 state searching for “free thanksgiving dinner” for the past five years, according to Google Trends.

But the state also has seen a 770% increase in residents searching for “where to donate food near me” in the past five years, as well.

“I am proud to hear the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is partnering with (Google) to serve families struggling with food insecurity this holiday season,” said Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, who also spoke at the event. “Google has strong ties with Oklahoma, and their continued investment in our state has been a major source of economic growth. I am confident that this partnership will create a better future for Oklahomans in need.”

While expressing gratitude to Google for the partnership, Dykstra also encouraged residents to continue volunteering all year round.

“The huge need we see now was actually trending down before COVID hit, and it’s finally starting to level out again,” Dykstra said. “But what we've seen is that there's just so many people in Oklahoma that are living paycheck to paycheck. Inflation is very, very difficult for people, because it's causing food costs to rise, utility bills to rise, housing bills and gas going up. It's not just food's more expensive; it's that everything's more expensive ... And we’re going to need all the help we can get to get people what they need to make it.”

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How to sign up to volunteer at the food bank

Signing up via the website to volunteer at the Regional Food Bank gives a resident three main options on how to donate their time, Kage said.

One is the aforementioned Food and Resource Center in Moore, which serves as a large market where people can come and “shop” for the groceries they need, and where volunteers can help stock shelves and assist guests.

Another is through the Volunteer Center at the food bank’s headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City, where volunteers can help repackage bulk food items into smaller portions for easier distribution, like with the children’s Backpack Program or the Commodity Supplemental Food Program for older adults.

Third, there’s Hope’s Kitchen, at the Oklahoma City headquarters, where volunteers can help prepare warm meals for residents in need. Volunteer shift hours vary according to which program and how much need, Kage said.

“Volunteers, from what I understand right now, save the Regional Food Bank over $1.5 million annually in labor costs, and that’s one of the reasons why the Regional Food Bank is so successful in its mission,” Kage said.

He also said after every shift, coordinators will calculate and tell volunteers how many meal equivalencies the individual would have helped package and prepare, allowing them to know the actual difference they’ve made.

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But to Kage ― who said volunteering was instilled in him by his parents as he grew up in Wisconsin ― the children who come through and volunteer with their parents or grandparents are what truly inspire him.

“Young people need to see and understand this aspect of our society, and they need to know that there’s something we can do about it,” said Kage, now 68. “Volunteering helps a person feel good. I believe human beings basically want to help other human beings and make that connection, and the best thing a young person can do is help other people, no matter what age they are. It lets them know that, despite all of the problems they might be seeing, there are still things you can appreciate about your own life.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC food bank partners with Google to fight hunger during holidays