Nick Lowrey, South Dakota News Watch
Demand for food assistance among needy South Dakota residents has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and donations of food and the volunteers needed to help distribute it are becoming harder to find.
Despite being in an age category that is at higher risk for serious COVID-19 symptoms, longtime Pierre resident Don Zeller has continued to volunteer at the Feeding South Dakota distribution center during the pandemic. Photo: Nick Lowrey, South Dakota News Watch
So far, the food collection and delivery systems in South Dakota have kept up and most families are getting the food they need.
But in early April, the state’s largest network of food banks, Feeding South Dakota, said it expected food donations to fall by half for the month. At the same time, the 211 Helpline Center — a key connection between people in need and the organizations that provide help — has seen its number of calls for help more than double.
During the month of March 2020, the 211 Helpline Center received more than 2,280 calls from people running short of food, said Betsy Schuster, vice president of program development. In all of 2019, the Helpline Center fielded slightly more than 4,600 calls for food assistance, Schuster said.
The pandemic has left thousands of South Dakota families needing help on a number of fronts, both financially and in terms of meeting basic needs.
Many of the people asking for help are doing so for the first time and have no experience in managing a severe financial crisis, Schuster said. For some, the pandemic is the first time they have signed up for unemployment benefits, sought food stamps under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or asked for help from food pantries, she said.
“It just compounds everything,” Schuster said. “Not only are they looking for food, but they’re also just looking for answers on what their next steps are, how do they pay rent, how do they pay their utility bill coming up. They’re tough calls.”
In February, the latest month for which data is available, there were 78,006 South Dakotans enrolled for SNAP benefits. About half those enrolled, 37,763, were children under the age of 18.
The number of people who are now, or soon will be, considered “food insecure” is not expected to fall anytime soon. The number of unemployed people in South Dakota is surging.
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