The pandemic continues to impact the lives of many Delaware County residents who face food insecurity and need more mental health service help than before the pandemic began, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.

 “I’m sure you can imagine that with the fact that everything — whether it’s the heating cost or food costs or housing costs, gas — with everything increasing generally, our paychecks don’t rise,” said Joanne Craig, chief impact officer of The Foundation for Delaware County.

Residents are paying more to stay in or heat their homes, so there’s less money to spend elsewhere, Craig said.

That means going to outside resources to get help. 

Local food pantry visitors have increased from 2021 to 2022, said Ellie Crowell, the Delaware County program director for Share Food Program.

There were 18,000 new people between July and September, a 68 percent increase compared to the same three-month period the year before.

There were 16,523 people served at Delco food pantries in October and 16,794 people served in November, the most seen since Share Food started working in the county.

Social agencies offered more relief during the pandemic and that’s been cut back, creating more food insecurity.

Read more at WHYY about a rise in food insecurity in Delaware County at WHYY.