Food pantries across America are seeing more visitors as inflation and federal benefit cuts strain family budgets. Chris Manno, a volunteer who now relies on the Lifeworks Project, said, "People are hungry, and they are scared." An NBC News survey showed that many food banks reported rising numbers this year.
Food inflation, gas prices and cuts to federal benefits have created a "perfect storm" for food pantries, which have become vital parts of the family budget for millions of Americans.
Every Thursday, Chris Manno volunteers at a food pantry near the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Waynesboro, Va., where she helps guide the families waiting to shop for free groceries.
Then she gets in line herself, sitting in a white lawn chair until the doors open.
For two years, Ms. Manno has shopped at the Lifeworks Project's River City Bread Basket. Then this summer, her federal food benefits were cut by about $300 a month in an unforgiving economy, and her trips to the pantry went from supplement to necessity.
"People are hungry, and they are scared," said Ms. Manno, 57, who is on medical leave from her job at a nonprofit and shares an apartment with her 22-year-old disabled son. "I am here because my food budget kept getting tighter and tighter."
Rising grocery bills and dwindling federal food benefits -- the first driven by tariffs and war, the second by government budget cuts enacted, in part, by President Trump's signature tax-cut-and-spending law -- are pushing struggling families to food pantries to help bridge the gap.
An NBC News survey this month of 48 of the largest food banks -- representing 35 states and Washington, D.C. -- found that nearly three-quarters reported increases in the number of people coming to their sites over the past year. The rise is coinciding with midterm elections that could prove to be a referendum on Mr. Trump's economic stewardship.
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