KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A report from Giving USA found charitable giving was down 10% between 2021 and 2022 across the country. That's the lowest it's been since 1995.
Kansas City organizations are agreeing, they're seeing fewer donations, as well.
Larry Grinder considers the Cross-Lines Community Market a lifeline.
"I can’t even work now, I’ve had two strokes, heart bypasses," Grinder said. "This place saved me."
Another shopper Isis Acebedo feels the same way. Through translation, she said it helps her financially, and she enjoys being able to come in and let her kids pick out exactly what they want. She also describes Cross-Lines as a community.
The organization has been around for six decades and has always had a food pantry, but the market opened two years ago.
Susila Jones, the executive director for Cross-Lines, said they wanted shoppers to feel like they were in an actual grocery store.
"The need is intensifying, so our need for more food is intensifying," Jones said.
And with fewer donations than normal, Cross-Lines has had situations where they have to turn people away.
Jones said what they considered a "busy month" pre-pandemic was 200 families served in a month. Now, they're serving well over a thousand families a month, and that's just in their area in Kansas City, Kansas.
Cross-Lines finds that it's things like dairy products, eggs, and meat that are the first to fly off their shelves. That's similar to other grocery stores, where the price of those products are going up.
"People who have been our traditional donors are also feeling the pinch of inflation, so they have less money to donate," Jones said. "They have less food themselves, so they’re not able to do as much food drives."
Even Harvesters is feeling the sting. They supply 800 organizations across the region and said they've seen donations fall since the pandemic.
"People saw what was happening and wanted to help us," said Stephen Davis, president and CEO of Harvesters. "And I think now, I think generally we’re feeling like things are getting back to normal, and so this isn’t as top of mind."
Davis said frankly, they just need more. More food, more goods, more to help serve people like Grinder and Acebedo.
"I mean, there’s, a lot of people are hungry out here," Grinder said.
Both organizations said physical donations of canned and perishable goods are great, but monetary donations help the most.
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