Georgia food banks gear up for summertime demand a year after pandemic food stamp benefits ended

Since  last summer, thousands of Georgians have turned to food banks, kitchens and shelters in order to make up for the loss of extra federal food stamp benefits that kept them from going hungry during the worst of the pandemic.

As the summer break approaches, Georgia’s food banks and other nonprofits are bracing for a surge in demand as children and teenagers have fewer places to eat meals while out of school. States across the country are seeing families become increasingly dependent on food banks for meals as families cope with a reduction in government food assistance.

The extra Pandemic-EBT benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, has been unavailable to more than 770,000 Georgians since June, resulting in as much as a 40% lower grocery shopping budget for many low-income families.