Nashville food banks experienced a dramatic rise in requests following May’s floods. Over the last six weeks, the number of people seeking emergency food from Second Harvest increased by 50 percent.
Second Harvest CEO Jaynee Day says the greater demand is due to loss of homes and jobs after the flood.
“And so they’re going to need to have to make tough decisions: do I pay my rent or do I put food on my table, or do I pay for my medicines or do I put food on my table. So until our economy starts to grow stronger, more people are employed, people feel more secure with their income levels, etcetera, our numbers are only going to increase or remain high.”
Day expects the number of people seeking food to remain at the increased level for the next six to twelve months.
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