Fuel vs food: These Americans are cutting back to afford higher gas prices

By Tami Luhby, CNN

For Sarah Lawhun, the soaring price of gas means she’s eating one less meal a day.

A careful budgeter, Lawhun has spent nearly $70 more at the pump this month. She’s trying to offset the increase by skipping lunch at her job as an environmental scientist, saving her about $30 a week in homemade sandwiches and salads but leaving her feeling tired and hungry.

Compounding her stress are her fears that gas prices will remain elevated even after the US-Israeli war with Iran ends and will lead to higher food prices. She’s already cutting back on fresh vegetables and meats and shopping more at discount grocers to try to salvage her ability to save money and pay down medical debt.

“None of us needed gas prices to go up in addition to everything else,” said Lawhun, 31, who lives in a suburb of Albany, New York, and drives 50 miles roundtrip to work. “It’s really, really hard to get ahead.”

Lawhun is among the hundreds of people who wrote to CNN about the impact of higher gas prices on their household finances. Many said they are being forced to cut back on essentials, as well as on spending for trips, entertainment and other items that help fuel the economy.


The pain isn’t limited to those who were already struggling to make ends meet. Folks who consider themselves middle class and who say they have good jobs also told CNN they have to tighten their belts, especially after years of contending with high prices for food, utilities, housing and other essentials.

Nationwide, a gallon of gas cost an average of $3.98 on Wednesday, according to AAA. That’s up $1.01, or 34%, over the past month.


The Middle East conflict, which began at the end of February, has caused oil and gas prices to skyrocket after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20% of the world’s oil supply. But oil prices and gasoline prices fell significantly on Monday after President Donald Trump said the United States would postpone further strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure.

Lawhun’s concerns are well founded. Once the conflict ends, the price of gas will likely ease by only 1 to 3 cents a day, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, a price comparison site. Meanwhile, the higher prices will seep into other products that need transporting, including food, experts say.

Cutting into income
For some people, particularly delivery drivers and those who spend a lot of time on the road for their jobs, the spike in gas prices means that they are earning less.

Mark Hernandez, an independent contractor who delivers for Walmart, gathered his receipts and ticked off the steady rise in prices at the Sam’s Club where he fills up: $2.45 a gallon on February 24; $3.08 on March 3; $3.35 on March 10; $3.69 on March 17 and $3.83 on March 20.

At the same time, the El Paso, Texas, resident has also seen his orders and tips drop since the war began, slashing his weekly earnings by several hundred dollars. The combination has led him to apply for other work, including as a lifeguard, to supplement his income. He’s also searching online for positions that don’t involve driving. His ideal would be a work-from-home job.
Meanwhile, he is filling the tank of his 2008 Dodge Charger several times a week to try to get ahead of the price increases.

“I know gas is going up every single day,” said Hernandez. 42, who checks the price online every morning. What gives him “the most fear is not knowing from day to day how much you’re going to pay at the pump.”

The gas price surge has also thrown family schedules into chaos, with parents having to pull back on activities with their kids to limit their driving.

Filling up the tank now costs Dexia Billingslea at least $15 more a week, which means she only uses her Kia Telluride to take her kids to school and to get to her job as a security guard. She’s had to stop taking her 3-year-old son to the park, where he loves the swings. The disruption has prompted her son, who has autism, to act out more.

Dexia Billingslea has stopped all non-essential driving to save money.

“I go exactly where I need to go, and I can’t go anywhere else,” said Billingslea, 35, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

Billingslea also couldn’t drive her 12-year-old daughter to her church group or take the family on a short road trip for spring break earlier this month. It hurts her that she’s disappointing them.

“I’m already trying my best,” she said. “I don’t want to let my kids down, telling them I can’t do something.”

Strict budgets
Some family obligations, however, can’t be postponed.

Patric DeStevens and his wife are driving 2,800 miles next week to their home in Vancouver, Washington, after caring for DeStevens’ terminally ill mother, who lived in York, Pennsylvania, and passed away in mid-March. They are setting a strict budget for food and lodging on the trip since they expect to pay $100 more for gas.

The gas price shock comes at a time when DeStevens took several weeks of unpaid family leave from his civil engineering job to care for his mother. Also, he and his siblings now have to pay for her funeral services, which he had not budgeted for.

Once he gets home, he’ll have to contend with higher gas prices at his local Costco. He’s been checking the store’s app and sees that price is now $4.79 a gallon, more than a dollar higher than when he left in late February – which he expects will cut into his ability to save and will add to his credit card debt.

“This is something that I was not anticipating to have to worry about,” DeStevens, 33, said of the price increase. “It’s very frustrating. I hate it.”

Mike Schentag didn’t anticipate that he would have to care about the cost of gas. He and his wife, Julia Renken, drive electric vehicles.

When Mike Schentag’s electric vehicle was in the shop this month, he had to drive a gas-powered rental car.

But, soon after the Middle East conflict began, he had to take his 2025 Rivian SUV to the shop to replace the suspension system, which took nearly two weeks. When he learned the rental car company only provided gas-powered vehicles, his first thought was, “Man, this is literally the worst time for this to happen.”

An engineer, Schentag tried to work more from home and use his wife’s EV for errands to minimize his use of the rental car, a Mazda 3. Still, he had to pump $52 worth of gas into it last week and another $53 on Wednesday before he returned it.

By Michelle Orge | The Cap Times Guest Column

As the leader of southwestern Wisconsin’s largest hunger-relief organization, my job is to ensure everyone in our community has enough nutritious food to thrive. When families are afraid to visit a food distribution event out of fear of increased immigration enforcement, I am profoundly concerned.

There are news stories about families in a Hispanic community in Milwaukee who are afraid to be racially profiled while visiting a food pantry, unlawfully detained, separated from their families or worse. In Minnesota, ICE has been following volunteers as they deliver food, standing outside food pantry entrances, staging at or near pantry facilities, and, in at least one instance, detaining volunteers.

Communities of color are also experiencing fear right here in southwestern Wisconsin. We’ve heard from our partner pantries and other support organizations that some families of color — regardless of their immigration status or citizenship — are afraid to attend food distribution events.

Every human being deserves to eat. That shouldn’t be a controversial statement, and it certainly isn’t a political one.

I’ve seen what it means when a family doesn’t know where their next meal will come from. I’ve listened to guests share their stories of job loss, health scares and working multiple jobs, yet still being unable to make ends meet. These stories have come from neighbors from every background, identity and walk of life, from those born halfway around the world and those born just down the road.

Hunger doesn’t check someone’s papers before it takes root in their home. It doesn’t ask about someone’s birthplace before it robs a parent of sleep because they are worried about feeding their children. What hunger does is stunt childhood development, strain health, sap potential and deepen inequity.

At Second Harvest and our network of nearly 300 partners and programs, we believe that everyone deserves good food. With food insecurity rates higher than ever, especially in communities of color because of years of systemic racism, our network should be focusing on increasing access to both food and information. Instead, we are considering whether sharing information about where to access food support will increase risk for our neighbors.

Political rhetoric too often gets in the way of substantive progress on the immigration challenges we face. But when a mother goes to a pantry for the first time, she isn’t there to debate policy. She’s there because she’s exhausted her other options. Because her rent went up. Because child care costs are crushing her family budget. Because she wants her children to grow up strong. Those motivations are human, not partisan.

I urge you to contact your elected officials at all levels. Ask them to enact policies that prevent the strong-arm immigration enforcement tactics we have seen at places where people receive help meeting essential needs. It is time for our leaders to unite to eliminate hunger, not create barriers rooted in fear.

Our strength as a community is measured not by how we break people down, but by how we lift one another up. Ensuring that everyone, regardless of immigration status, identity or background, has access to enough nutritious food isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s essential to building a healthy and strong community for all of us.

News story by Anthony DaBruzzi, Spectrum News – Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — The federal government shutdown is over, but food insecurity in Wisconsin isn’t.

Gov. Tony Evers spent his Thursday at food banks and pantries in both Madison and Oshkosh to highlight how the longest shutdown in American history is still impacting those organizations on the frontlines who serve their communities.

“We have to make sure that the federal government is going to be a partner in all of this,” Gov. Evers told Spectrum News 1 during a stop at Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin.

After food assistance was delayed for nearly 700,000 Wisconsin residents, the governor said the federal and state governments each have their own roles to play but need to work together.

“The idea that somehow, we’re just not going to do it because we’re pissed off or something, that’s just irrational behavior, and so I’m hopeful that we have all learned a lesson,” Gov. Evers added.

The governor now hopes the Food Security Initiative, a grant program he created, can help food pantries keep their shelves stocked.

It connects local nonprofit food assistance programs, such as pantries, with local producers, thanks to a $10 million investment as part of the latest state budget.

“It’s likely now that things have been ‘fixed,’ that it’s going to fade from some folks’ minds again, and it still exists, Michelle Orge, who serves as president and executive director of Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, explained of food insecurity. “It’s still there. We’re distributing twice as much food as we were at the height of the pandemic.”

While the latest federal funding deal makes sure those who rely on food assistance won’t face interruption through the rest of the budget year, Orge said many people are still struggling, especially those who don’t qualify for assistance.

“Without data, we can’t explain certain things, but I don’t need data to tell me that we’re seeing increases of folks coming to our partner agencies,” Orge added.

In Wisconsin, the latest Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) Household Stability Budget for a family of four, with two kids in child care, is $126,876 per year, according to an analysis by the United Way.

“So, the difference between folks who are qualifying for SNAP and who may need more support, and folks who don’t need any support at all, there’s a huge gap there,” Orge said.

Those are factors that Gov. Evers wishes more Wisconsinites knew about.

“Think about this; there are probably people in the legislature [who] don’t really know that there is stuff like this going on. And so, I think we need to have more people thinking about it,” Gov. Evers said. “And one of the ways is to get them going to a place like this and visit, but also every local community has something going on in the area of food insecurity.”

Earlier this week, Gov. Evers also signed an emergency order to suspend the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) rules over emergency assistance for those facing housing insecurity or an energy crisis.

MADISON, Wis. — As the ongoing federal government shutdown continues, Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin is activating emergency response measures to address a growing hunger crisis that will reach a critical point starting on November 1.


Due to the shutdown, nearly 700,000 Wisconsin families who rely on FoodShare (SNAP) benefits will not receive the support that would typically begin on November 1. This disruption means seniors, children, and families with the fewest resources will face immediate and difficult choices between food, medicine, housing, and utilities.


“This is an unprecedented moment for hunger relief in Wisconsin,” said Michelle Orge, President/Executive Director of Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. “We cannot wait idly until the full impact hits. We are mobilizing now to ensure families have healthy, nutrient-rich food when they need it most.”


Beginning November 1, Second Harvest Foodbank is doubling its purchase of fresh produce for distribution across its network of nearly 300 partner pantries, programs, and meal sites. This emergency action ensures our network of partners can request more food—at no cost—to meet the extraordinary surge in need.


To support this expanded effort, Second Harvest Foodbank has:

  • Activated emergency protocols to immediately increase food sourcing and distribution capacity;
  • Mobilized volunteers and donor support to sustain deliveries of fresh produce and pantry staples; and
  • Coordinated with community partners to streamline response and maximize impact.

Members of the public are encouraged to take immediate action:

  • Donate food directly to your local pantry to help meet neighborhood needs;
  • Contribute to Second Harvest Foodbank at SecondHarvestSW.org. Every dollar donated ensures families, seniors, and children have access to nutritious food throughout this crisis and beyond.

“Our mission remains steadfast to end hunger in southwestern Wisconsin,” Orge said. Prior to the pause in SNAP, we were distributing more food than we were at the height of the pandemic. We’ve never seen this level of need and families are facing even more financial challenges and barriers to accessing healthy food.”

By Tabitha Bland | Published: Jul. 22, 2025 at 10:03 PM CDT

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – In the United States, between 30 to 40% of the food supply goes to waste. The Farm to Food Bank program in Dane County is working to fix that.

Every week, Second Harvest buys produce that farmers at the weekly farmers market can’t sell.

Second Harvest Food Sourcing Coordinator Ben Auerbach explained that they buy up to 2,000 pounds of produce each week, which reinvests around $8,000 back into the local farming economy.

“To know that that they have some here to buy that produce each week, even if they have extra amounts of it from the season is just a core resource for them and core thing they can depend on,” said Auerbach.

Mary Uselman sells fresh produce at the farmers market and participates in the Farm to Food Bank program.

“It helps both ends out both Second Harvest and the farmer. There’s so much produce during the summertime and it’s hard to get rid of it at the market,” she said.

After the food is purchased from local vendors, it is delivered to a local foodbank.

“It’s a happy spot, looking at all that beautiful produce it brings joy to myself, to my volunteers and to our customers,” said Francesca Frisque, Director of Community Food Resources at the Goodman Center.

Frisque helps get the food from the truck into the center.

From there, it is brought to the produce pantry where food bank customers can take it home.

“Food pantry customers are just like your neighbor, just like your friend and they appreciate fresh and local produce just as much as you and I,” Frisque said.

The money used to purchase the food from farmers comes directly from donations to the Farm to Food Bank program.

The program continues every week while the farmer’s market is in operation.

By Victoria Namkung, The Guardian, 12 June 2025

The US president vowed to cut food costs, but experts warn metal tariffs may raise prices in a matter of months.

Canned foods make up a big part of 20-year-old Cale Johnson’s diet: tuna, corned beef hash, beans, chicken soup, Spam and fruit. They’re affordable and have a long shelf life, which is essential for many people in the US like Johnson, who earns a low income and works two part-time jobs in addition to being a full-time student in Omaha, Nebraska.

In the days after Donald Trump’s recent decision to double tariffs on steel and aluminum, Johnson says he’s worried.

“I know that some people have been resorting to stocking up only on non-perishable goods now before they get more expensive,” said Johnson, who has used the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) to make ends meet. “There’s a feeling of panic and having to prepare in the coming months.”

One of Trump’s key campaign promises was to lower grocery costs for consumers who have had to contend with pandemic supply chain issues, rising food prices and inflation in recent years. But his new steel and aluminum tariffs, which took effect on 4 June, threaten to do just the opposite. The new 50% tariff rate could raise food prices in a matter of months, industry trade groups and supply chain experts warn.

Tariffs on canned goods, which could raise prices for items in steel cans by up to 15%, would create what some anti-hunger experts are calling a “double-whammy” for people using Snap, now that the program is facing the biggest cuts in history. The Republican House budget bill, which passed in the House and is now under review in the Senate, would slash Snap, which is considered the US’s most effective tool in fighting hunger, taking food off the table for millions of Americans – including 2 million children – at a time when the cost of key staples is set to grow.

“As grocery prices continue to rise and Snap benefits are reduced, families across the country will be left with fewer resources to meet even their basic needs,” said Gina Plata-Nino, Snap’s deputy director at the Food Research & Action Center (Frac). “We are likely to see a rise in food insecurity, housing instability and homelessness as more individuals and families are forced to make impossible choices between paying for food, rent, transportation, and other essentials.”

The current average Snap benefit is only about $6 a day per person.

Parke Wilde, a food economist at Tufts University who studies food security, hunger and the economics of food assistance programs such as Snap, agreed that hunger could “worsen substantially” over the next two years as a result of these policies. “This is a sharp retrenchment in the strength of the hunger safety net,” he said.

If Snap cuts are signed into law and metal tariffs are not overturned or exempted for food production, more pressure will also be placed on hunger relief organizations and food banks.

“Non-perishables, including canned goods, are always part of our strategy because of their long shelf life and versatility,” said Michelle Orge, executive director of Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. “Increased costs of canned goods will affect our ability to procure the amount that we have planned for and that our partners and neighbors are relying on. We will either buy less or we will buy less variety if we find a good price on certain items, but not others.

“Increased costs from tariffs could also potentially affect non-perishable food donations since the cost of those items will be higher and folks may be less likely to donate them,” she said.

The Can Manufacturers Institute, an industry trade group, says the latest tariffs would inflate canned food prices and give foreign canned food producers in Asia, including China, a chance to “undercut” US farmers and food producers.

“The tariffs are a food security issue,” said Scott Breen, president of CMI. “We want to be able to manufacture cans here and fill them with food grown in the US. The tariffs create an unnecessary cost that someone has to bear: the can maker, the retailer, the brand and the consumer.”

American can makers import nearly 80% of tin mill steel, the type used for products such as canned beans, tuna, chicken broth and tomato paste, a result of the cut in domestic production after the 2018 tariffs on tin mill steel during Trump’s first term. Since then, American steelmakers have shut down nine tin mill lines with only three domestic production lines remaining.

CEOs from companies such as Del Monte, Goya Foods, Bush’s Beans and Hormel Foods have already called on Trump for targeted tariff relief on tin mill steel and aluminum produced by allies such as Canada before the tariff was doubled from 25% to 50%, however it is unclear if an exemption will be granted.

The Aluminum Association, which represents companies that make most of the aluminum and aluminum products shipped in North America, said in a recent statement that the tariff of 50% “threatens to undermine the very industry the administration aims to support”.

Although Trump says he is attempting to revive US manufacturing with his tariffs, rising grocery prices would be part of a ripple effect that could raise costs across various industries.

In the end, it’s regular people who will pay the price.

“Food insecurity is not going away … and people’s food prices are not going down,” said Frac’s Plata-Nino. “GOP policymakers haven’t thought about those things because the lived reality of average Americans is very different from those who live in wealthy places.”

By Ashley Weil

Published: Jun. 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM CDT

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Crossroads Community Farm in Cross Plains is one farm helping donate organic produce to local food pantries, supporting the growing need for fresh food.

The certified organic vegetable farm sells its produce locally and is growing its food access. They began a program in 2020, hoping to make fresh organic produce more accessible to everyone, not just people who can afford it.

“We are in a really tricky place where there are a lot of people struggling to put food on the table, and we want to do whatever we can to help in that,” explained farmer and co-owner of Crossroads Community Farm, Cassie Wyss.

The food access work has grown in the past five years.

This year, Crossroads Community Farm began a farm-to-pantry partnership where, using donations, the farm can provide fresh produce to Dane County food pantries.

“When you go to a pantry and the quality of the food there is so poor, it sort of communicates to you how you’re valued in society,” said Wyss, “You only get the canned stuff or you get the lettuce that’s already wilting that the farmer couldn’t sell, and so a big part of what we want to do is make people feel dignity when they get food and we do that by giving them beautiful, gorgeous food that’s the same as our paying, paying customers receive.”

Badger Prairie Needs Network is one food pantries receiving Crossroad Community Farm’s produce.

Barbara O’Connell says the need at pantries has grown exponentially.

“Especially now, we’ve had a lot of cuts in state and federal programs. So I mean it seems like every week we get more and more patrons coming through and the need is definitely there,” explained O’Connell.

O’Connell says they are thankful for the partnership they have with Crossroads. She says it is important to them to support local farmers and provide fresh produce to their community.

“Their produce is just unbelievable,” explained O’Connell, “We’re open all day on Thursday, by the time Friday morning comes, it’s gone.”

But Crossroads says there is too much demand for them to meet everyone’s needs.

“I’ve also had to turn away other pantries that have heard about what we do, have called and asked if we could supply them and ultimately, we still need to make sure that the people who work here are paid a living wage and are taking care of, and so we have a cost of production. So I’ve had to say no to some folks who’ve asked for help and that’s always really hard,” explained Wyss.

Wyss said they worked on growing donations during the winter season, as they are keeping busy with the spring growing season out in the fields.

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Thanks to generous donations from the community, we were able to meet our goal for the 29th annual WMTV Share Your Holidays campaign!

Our goal this year was $1.5 million, which was set because of the ever growing need at area food banks.

Donors absolutely knocked it out of the park on Wednesday, exceeding our goal. As of 10:15 p.m., $1,623,240 was raised to benefit Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin.

Phones opened at 6 a.m. and volunteers were busy taking calls until the end of our 10 p.m. newscast. Many of them wore festive accessories, which you may have noticed during our Mike’s Miracle Minutes.

President and Executive Director of Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin Michelle Orge said these donations will help our neighbors and put food on their tables.

“This is the type of area, this is the type of community that takes care of folks in their community and it showed in this year’s Share Your Holidays,” Orge said. “It’s so heartwarming to be in a community that shows up.”

Also going on Wednesday at Alliant Energy Center was the Sort-A-Thon. During Sort-A-Thon, all of the food donated during Food and Fund Drives goes to the Alliant Energy Center for quality checking and sorting. This is the largest volunteer and sorting event of the year for Second Harvest.

Since the beginning, the WMTV Share Your Holidays campaign has helped provide nearly 75 million meals throughout southern Wisconsin. This year, the need is greater than ever. Every $10 donated allows Second Harvest Food Bank to buy up to $24 in groceries.


Share Your Holidays started as a one-day food drive in a grocery store parking lot in 1996. It was then-anchor Mike McKinney’s passion that no one should experience what he did as a child, growing up hungry.

The Army National Guard has been a part of the Share Your Holidays campaign since the inaugural campaign. One of the co-founders of the campaign was Mike Hart, who was in the Army National Guard when he and McKinney started the campaign.

What began on that cold winter day 26 years has grown more than Mike McKinney, who died in 2006, may ever have dreamed. Blossoming from a campaign that found success in the thousands of meals in a year to one that, with your help, brings millions of meals to people in southern Wisconsin.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about Mike going into this,” said his mother, Barbara McKinney. “I’ve been thinking a lot about him today and the energy he would have had and just being in awe.”

Thank you to all who donated this year!

Copyright 2024 WMTV. All rights reserved.

By Michelle Orge for the Wisconsin State Journal

Dane County has shown tremendous leadership in supporting neighbors facing hunger while sustaining the local agriculture economy. Throughout the pandemic, Dane County supervisors entrusted local organizations to meet the unprecedented rise in the number of families seeking help, focusing on providing locally sourced produce and other foods.

The result — Second Harvest’s Farm to Foodbank Initiative — has provided more than 14 million meals to families throughout Dane County.

Recently, the Dane County Board released its initial budget plans for 2025. Unfortunately, funding for Farm to Foodbank was not included. This critical support for thousands of Dane County residents is at risk.

In addition to Dane County families receiving nutritious food as a result of the Farm to Foodbank Initiative, more than 220 local growers, farmers and others received a much-needed avenue to sell their products. Second Harvest was the bridge linking supply and demand. Food from local farmers went to hard-working families facing rising costs, stagnant wages and other financial strains.


While the increased need was front-page news at the height of the pandemic, the number of families in our community seeking food assistance is even higher now. Dane County pantries saw a 30% increase in need last year alone. So far in 2024, demand is up an additional 20%.

Why is the demand for food assistance so much higher? While the average income for the lowest-wage earners has gone up 12% since the beginning of the pandemic, the cost of basic necessities has gone up even higher. Food prices rose 25%, rent went up 30% and gas prices increased more than 60%. According to the United Way, a household with two adults and two children in childcare will need an annual household income of over $98,000 to make ends meet. One of every 3 households in Dane County doesn’t meet this threshold.


The increased need in Dane County highlights the increased importance of the Farm to Foodbank Initiative. Our pantry partners will face tough choices if these dollars end. They will either need to raise funds to buy food, limit healthy food choices and perhaps even trim back hours and days of operation. It took leadership to build this innovative model, and we are hopeful that ingenuity in the coming weeks can save Farm to Foodbank from ending.

Dane County is a caring and compassionate community that prides itself on coming together for the greater common good. We translate our emotions about challenges facing the human condition into action. We aren’t just empathetic to others. We step forward to see what can be done to make their lives a little easier.

We live in a place that knows how to do hard work. County government has invested millions of dollars in recent years into developing more affordable housing for families. That investment is critical. It creates opportunity and foundations to build success from.

Like housing, food is foundational. It is a fundamental family need and essential to the well-being of all ages. Because of where we live and who we are, I am confident our leaders will rise to this occasion and find a path to continue providing help and hope.

By Seth Nelson of the Wisconsin State Journal

For most of the 22 years Ellen Carlson has worked at WayForward Resources, formerly Middleton Outreach Ministry, the food pantry has operated on a “take what you need” system — families could take as much food as they needed to feed themselves for the week.

But in recent months, as the pantry’s shelves have emptied faster and two-hour lines of waiting people have become increasingly common, WayForward’s staff have begun restricting the amount of food families can take for fear of running out before the week is done, said Carlson, WayForward’s executive director.

“To go to the community and say ‘We’re not sure that we have enough food,’” she said, “that’s really difficult to do.”

WayForward is hardly alone. Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with it the end of federally supported programs aimed at alleviating hunger, Madison-area pantries have seen a surge in demand, administrators and officials say.

In interviews with nearly a dozen food pantry administrators from the Madison area, as well as public health officials and representatives of statewide organizations, all say the same thing: Long lines, empty shelves and a diminishing food supply are becoming the norm, locally and across the county.

The six largest food pantries in Dane County announced in February that they were seeing record-high numbers of families coming to their doors. On average, the number of family visits increased 112% between 2021 and 2023.

That number has only grown in 2024. Administrators at the River Food Pantry said they have seen a 24% increase in demand just since February, and are on track to see twice the number of families by 2025.

At the Neighborhood House food pantry on the Near West Side, demand has doubled since 2021, and Bayview Community Center’s food pantry has seen similar growth just since January.

At Extended Hands Food Pantry on the West Side, demand has grown even higher. In the past four years, Director of Operations Jenny Czerkas said, the pantry has seen a 414% increase; over 100% of that has been since 2023.

“We don’t want to continue to operate in a crisis model,” WayForward Strategic Engagement Director Leslie Huber said. “So is it a crisis? I mean, yeah, it is.”

As unemployment soared and schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty-alleviation programs were given a major infusion of federal aid to increase struggling families’ access to food.

But by the end of 2023, federal support for those programs had all but evaporated. Additional benefits through Wisconsin’s FoodShare program were mostly cut in February of that year, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients’ average benefits decreased by $90 a month in March.

The end of that support brought with it an increase in demand for food, said Nick Heckman, Dane County’s Public Health planner for food security.

Ellen Carlson, executive director of WayForward Resources, said visits to the food pantry have doubled as demand rises in the Madison area.

“The first inclination that things were changing came a couple years later when a lot of those programs and benefits started to wind down and the funds ran out,” he said. “So all of these things kind of came to a head and created the first real press for food.”

In 2021 nearly one-third of households in the county struggled to access basic necessities, including food, according to data provided by the United Way.

But years-old statistics probably underrepresent the current situation, Heckman said.

“What is occurring are forces at the national and maybe even global economic scale,” he said. “There is a real increase in demand. I mean, I think that’s undeniable.

“Right now, pantries are managing. But there’s an upper threshold of how much they can manage,” Heckman said. “The question is: Can they do this sustainably forever? And I think the answer is definitely no.” 

In the popular imagination, the pandemic is remembered as the era of long food lines and starving families, said Michelle Orge, CEO of Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, which supplies food to area pantries. But that reality is just as real now as it was then. Since 2023 southwest Wisconsin has seen a 47% increase in families reporting that they struggle to obtain enough food, according to Second Harvest’s data.

“During the pandemic, it was very clear to folks that folks were struggling, because there was all this drone footage of people lined up at pantries,” she said. “We think of the pandemic as this ‘big spike.’ But now that we don’t see the miles and miles of cars lined up, we don’t think about it as much anymore.”

Many pantries, like WayForward, have begun tightening their supply of food to avoid running out before they’re restocked. That has left many families wanting more but taking less.

“I always say it’s magic how food pantries work now,” said Tess Stroh, the director of the Bayview pantry. “We’re just in such a scarcity mindset.”

Second Harvest is by far the largest provider of food to pantries in southern Wisconsin, sending out millions of pounds of food a year. But even as Second Harvest and other food banks pump more and more food to pantries, demand continues to dwarf the supply.

“I know our partners depend on us, but when they can’t — when they have to say no to people — well, that’s not what we aim for,” she said. “(Pantries) would order more from us if we had it, but we are never quite able to give them the amount they need.”

In recent years pantry administrators say they have even found themselves competing against one another to get the food they need. 

When Second Harvest’s ordering portal opens, it’s a mad dash to get essential food items before other pantries scoop them up, said Taylor Drogemuller, director of the Neighborhood House’s pantry.

“There’s not quite as much selection as there used to be available, as far as the variety and regularity of food,” she said. “And if I can’t get it from Second Harvest, then I just don’t get it at all.”

Wisconsin, like all states, gets millions of pounds of food a year from the federal government as part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program, a U.S. Department of Agriculture initiative that distributes free food to pantries across the country. But even that has seen dwindling amounts sent to Wisconsin, said Jennifer Putzer, the state’s Food Security Unit supervisor.

“Food sources ebb and flow all the time,” she said, but acknowledged there is less food available across all sources than there was during the pandemic as federal assistance has increasingly fallen away. “It’s putting a strain on the food system.”

The problem with getting enough food, Orge said, isn’t just the amount available — it’s the cost of the food that’s already there.

Rising costs from post-pandemic inflation mean that many food items are now unattainable for pantries with smaller budgets, Orge said.

“Ultimately, it’s always been, ‘Do we have enough food?'” she said. “And a lot of that right now comes down to, ‘Do we have enough money to get that food?'”

Smaller pantries like Bayview and Neighborhood House, but even large pantries like The River, say they have consistently spent more as demand has only risen.

For its part, WayForward has spent 240% more in 2024 so far than it did two years ago. 

Heckman called inflation in food prices “the silent killer” of food pantries nationwide.

“The real changes to food prices, even if it’s only reflected in $1 or so per product, can be substantial to the volume of products that these pantries and food banks are going through,” he said. “It can really add up to significant amounts, and ultimately these are entities that are operating on donated funds and small budgets.”

As food prices climb and supply drops, Heckman said, hunger in the Madison area will only spread, putting even more of a burden on pantries.

That isn’t just unsustainable; it’s also dangerous, he said. Unless the strain on pantries is alleviated, families will increasingly cut back on the number or size of meals they eat, or “parents will go without food to ensure enough for their children,” he said.

“It’s a situation that is unfolding, it has been unfolding and it will continue to unfold,” he said. “This is kind of our canary in the coal mine.”

By Grace Ulch of WKOW

MADISON (WKOW) — Wednesdays in summer mean local vendors pop up their tents for the Dane County Wednesday Farmers’ Market. But they often have fresh, locally-sourced produce that doesn’t sell.

Rather than letting it go to waste, vendors can get that food to a local family. As the Wednesday market wraps up around 1 p.m., vendors look for the Second Harvest Foodbank van, where they can grab bins to place their leftover produce.

The produce is then weighed, and Second Harvest writes a check to each vendor. Vendors like Danielle Clark with Clark Family Mushrooms.

Clark says she started participating in the Market Harvest program when it was in its pilot phase last summer. She says when she sits down at the dinner table with her family each night, it makes her happy to know that somewhere in southern Wisconsin there’s another family with fresh mushrooms on their table who otherwise wouldn’t have them.

“Without Second Harvest, we wouldn’t be able to find those people to get the mushrooms to them,” Clark said. “We would just be wasting them. So, the fact that they get cooked that night, it makes our heart so happy. It really does.”


Ben Auerbach, Food Sourcing Coordinator for Second Harvest Foodbank, says donations are the key to making this program possible. They ensure Second Harvest can afford to pay these vendors for their produce.

While the program is centered in Dane County now, Auerbach says one day they’d love to see it spread through southern Wisconsin.

“There’s a lot of markets in more remote areas outside of Dane County that we simply can’t get to. And if we can get donations to help have someone staff that, or even have a volunteer staff that and do buying for us, that’d be amazing,” Auerbach said.

Thanks to the Werndli Charitable Fund, donations made to Second Harvest will be matched up to $15,000. Second Harvest says there’s still about $9,000 left to be raised until they hit that match limit.

By Juliana Tornabene and Mackenzie Davis of WMTV

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – With Dairy Month about to begin in Wisconsin, an initiative in southwestern Wisconsin aims to ensure those facing food insecurity have access to milk.

Adopt a Dairy Cow was created by Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin to address the shortage of milk donations to the local pantry. The program has provided 300,000 gallons of milk to those facing nutrition insecurity in southwestern Wisconsin since launching a decade ago.

Milk is a top source for nutrients, and one of the most requested items by food pantry partners. However, it is also an item rarely donated because of the challenges in storing and distributing it.

“Milk is part of our core 20,” Second Harvest Food Donor Coordinator Jo Rabbach said. “It is something that we strive to always have available for our partner agencies and the guests that rely on it who are facing hunger throughout southwestern Wisconsin.”

The first $65,000 will be matched this year, thanks to the Werndli Charitable Fund, Alliant Energy Foundation and other sponsors. Funds raised will go to support the purchase of thousands of gallons of milk, which will be distributed to local food pantries and partners for free.

To participate, you can visit the campaign’s website and symbolically adopt a cow. You can then choose how many half-gallons of milk you’d like to provide. Once you donate, you will receive a copy of your official “adoption” certificate and a coupon for a free quart of ice cream from Sassy Cow Creamery.

“Our cows out here are happy to participate too,” Sassy Cow Creamery co-owner James Baerwolf said. “About a little over 50 of our cows, their full-time job is just making milk for the Second Harvest Campaign.”

The cows you can choose from this year are:

Princess- This girl is herd royalty! Princess is in charge (or at least she thinks she is).
Daisy- One of our sweetest cows, Daisy loves spending time out in the green pastures.
Sprinkle- Colorful and full of life, Sprinkle can bring a smile to anyone’s face!
Scoops- Nosey and mischievous, Scoops can never turn away from some “moos” on the farm!
Bessie- A bit sassy, Bessie can never get enough of our tasty fields.
Sunny- A bright light in the herd, it is hard to miss our girl Sunny.
Malt- Though she can sometimes find herself straying away from the herd, Malt loves to discover new places on the farm.
Harriet (Sponsored by the Werndli Charitable Fund) – Giving is in her nature! Harriet loves to show the new cows around when they first join the herd.
MoogaWatt (Sponsored by the Alliant Energy Foundation) – MoogaWatt is so full of energy, she can be seen strutting through the barns at all hours of the day!