BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Residents are reportedly having trouble with the constant inflation and are looking toward other resources that can help.
Studies show that before the pandemic, a little more than half of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck. That number is now higher.
“Oh my, it’s really bad,” explained Micki Newman, a Baton Rouge resident. “I mean, everyone’s struggling right now.”
Newman is a working grandmother who pays her bills each month but lately hasn’t been able to recover. “My budget is being stretched quite a bit. It’s been hard on my pocketbook as well,” said Newman.
According to Newman, since the pandemic, inflation has made it impossible for her to catch up. But she is not alone. Newman states her neighbors also feel the pinch.
“We’re sailing right along and all of a sudden things just started to skyrocket. Prices are high everywhere. I mean, we’ve heard about the eggs being almost three times as much, so it has quite an impact on the community,” she explained.
Newman has been helping her next-door neighbors with their needs and now relying on the Salvation Army to make sure they get food boxes from the pantry.
“So monthly, we used to do 150 blue boxes, but since COVID, we bumped it up to 250 boxes. So that’s what we’re doing now because we see the influx of people,” claimed Michael McGhee, Salvation Army Program Director.
According to McGhee, 250 boxes are still not enough, but they try their best to make sure everyone gets something. “We give out what we can,” he continued. They’re still hosting food drives so that people like Newman and others are able to have a meal for a few weeks. “We have some canned goods that they’ll be able to use. We got some chili and they’ll be able to have some square meals,” Newman smiled.
For more information on the next food drive or if you need food from the pantry, you must call the Salvation Army at 225-355-4483.
