Food or Bills? A decision many people in our area face amid inflation

MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — The costs for necessities like gas, rent and utility bills are rising, and with that, so is the number of people facing food insecurity in our area.

“We had hoped after the pandemic we’d see that number start to rescind, but in reality, it has actually gone up because of the variables we see every single day,” CEO of Feeding the Gulf Coast Michael Ledger said. “For children, it’s 1 in 5, 1 in 7 for adults and there are over 320,000 people in our community that are facing food insecurity in our service area.”

UPDATE: Suspect arrested in Daphne homicide, police say

Those numbers are totaled over 24 counties including Mobile County, Baldwin County, Escambia County and south Mississippi.

Synetta English is included in that number. She has the constant struggle of choosing between keeping food on the table or paying her bills.

“We have to go out to different places to replace food that we couldn’t afford to buy,” English said. “We have to go to different churches, we come over here to Via (Health, Fitness and Enrichment Center), and they serve the community, and that’s one way we get food in our house.”

English isn’t alone. Alabama, Florida and Mississippi are in the top 10 states with the highest rate of food insecurity for seniors.

UPDATE: Mobile Police officer placed on administrative duty after deadly crash with motorcycle

“We’ve all gone through the checkout line to see what we got for the money it costs us, and seniors are facing it doublefold because they don’t have the income others may have,” Ledger said. “Additionally, they’re trying to feed their grandchildren in many cases.”

That happens to be the case for English. She adopted her grandson, Jermaine, who suffers from cerebral palsy. Now that English is retired, it’s tough for them to live solely off her social security check.

“I think for seniors, when you get a certain amount of money a month, then that cuts you off (from) getting food stamps and stuff like that,” English said. “Once they take it because of your income, what can you say? You know you just have to deal with it.”

Now she relies on food banks around Mobile to help ease some of the burden.

Baldwin County woman starts fentanyl awareness foundation after losing brother

Organizations like Feeding the Gulf Coast are doing what they can to help solve this growing problem that’s plaguing every community. They collect and donate food to over 400 agencies across three states.

“You cannot stereotype what hunger looks like, we see it in all kinds of incarnations, people you would never dream would be in a line,” Ledger said. “All of our partners that are out there every day, working with folks in that line understand just how many people are affected, and it just really inspires us as a team to try to make sure we’re doing everything we can to support all of our partners and support this community.”

The group is answering the call. Providing a helping hand to our neighbors in need here on the Gulf Coast.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.