The State of Indiana has more than tripled the amount of money allocated to food banks. The Indiana State Department of Agriculture says a total of a million dollars will be distributed to 11 food banks, under the General Assembly’s biennial budget.
Locally, the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, which serves Marshall, Starke, and four other counties, saw its allocation jump from less than $35,000 last year to almost $116,000 this year. Food Finders Food Bank, whose 16-county territory includes Pulaski and Fulton counties, went from less than $28,000 to more than $93,000.
The funding boost comes as the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for food assistance. The state’s food bank association, Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, says almost 1.2 million Hoosiers experienced food insecurity at the height of the pandemic. They expect that over 13 percent of Hoosiers are still unsure where their next meal will come from, including as many as one in six children.
The funding distribution was determined using the Emergency Food Assistance Program fair share percentages, which are based on each county’s poverty and unemployment levels.
