For years , St . Joseph ’ s has been putting together holiday food baskets for families , giving them options of turkey , ham , chicken , or pork , as well as fresh vegetables , fruit , stuffing , gravy , and many other traditional Thanksgiving staples . Also included in the baskets are everyday staples like milk , eggs , sugar , flour , and cooking oil . “ It really is a nice amount , but also good quality ,” David Cox , St . Joseph ’ s executive director , said , “ One of our mantras here is we want to make sure that if we distribute something , it ’ s something that we would want or that our families would accept .” With St . Joseph ’ s help , thousands of households get to enjoy Thanksgiving the way it ’ s meant to be enjoyed .

The need for food doesn ’ t stop when the holidays do , however . Since the start of the pandemic , St . Joseph ’ s and other food agencies like them have seen a steady rise in food insecurity rates . “ Maybe we would see , on average , a hundred families a day . Now we ’ re seeing six hundred families a day . So the need has been pushed through the roof ,” Cox said . To meet the growing need , his agency has gone from providing food services twice a month to four times a month .

Once upon a time , the old saying , “ If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime ,” used to be an effective life approach . With inflation , skyrocketing rents , wealth disparities , and persisting race inequalities , that motto no longer applies . College degrees , which used to guarantee higher paying jobs that got people out of poverty , no longer hold the same value in the job market and often incur crippling debt . “ It ’ s not like our families aren ’ t working . They ’ re not making enough to thrive . They are literally making enough to survive ,” Cox explained . Food is usually the first thing to be sacrificed when utility bills or other expenses increase . Without proper nutrition , poor health is soon to follow , which only exacerbates people ’ s struggles .

So far , St . Joseph ’ s has been working hard to ensure families don ’ t have to make that sacrifice , and 95 percent of the families they ’ ve served have said that they would be facing serious challenges if the food assistance program wasn ’ t available . Cox is particularly proud of their No Wrong Door policy , which

by Crystal Han

50 FALL 2024 gmhTODAY Magazine : Go . Make history ... gmhtoday . com