{"id":3123,"date":"2026-10-22T16:03:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T11:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3123"},"modified":"2026-10-22T16:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T11:03:47","slug":"high-gas-prices-strain-detroits-hungry-and-food-banks-ahead-of-midterm-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3123","title":{"rendered":"High gas prices strain Detroit’s hungry and food banks ahead of midterm elections"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A neatly packed cardboard box of pasta, dry beans, canned goods and powdered milk made Tonya King cry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for this,\u201d said King, a 65-year-old Detroit \u200bgrandmother, her voice cracking while tears streamed down her face. \u201cFinally, my daughter called me and said, \u2018he\u2019s coming.\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n

King had been waiting for Frank Kubik, a director at \u200cthe Focus: Hope nonprofit food program, who arrived with the box of food that will feed her household of six for two weeks.<\/p>\n

The food bank caters mostly to lower-income seniors on fixed incomes, many of whom can no longer afford to pick up food donations because of higher gas prices and need more assistance as grocery prices increase.<\/p>\n

The need for food assistance is growing across the United States just as it is becoming costlier \u200bfor food banks to deliver it.<\/p>\n

Soaring diesel prices driven up by the US-led war on Iran have raised delivery costs for food while inflation and cuts in federal food assistance have increased demand \u200bfrom struggling Americans.<\/p>\n

The cost of living has become a central concern for voters weighing their choices in the US Senate race in Michigan, one of \u2060several competitive races in the November 3 midterm elections<\/a> that could decide whether Democrats can retake control of the US Senate.<\/p>\n

Nearly half of registered voters nationwide cited the cost of living as \u200bthe most important factor in their midterm vote, according to a recent Reuters\/Ipsos poll.<\/a><\/p>\n

King plans to vote for Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former director of Detroit\u2019s health department, hoping he \u200bwill address the rising cost of living and healthcare, two issues at the centre of his campaign.<\/p>\n

His Republican rival, Mike Rogers, has called for suspending state and federal gas taxes and introducing tax cuts to address the issue of affordability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to decide between my seizure medication and my diabetes medication,\u201d King said. \u201cWe need someone to come in and change things.\u201d<\/p>\n

For King, food is just the first in a long line of necessities she can\u2019t afford \u200bas high gas prices cut into what little income her family gets from government assistance.<\/p>\n

Their furnace is broken, and the family can\u2019t afford to fix it as winter looms. The house \u200bsmells of urine \u2013 there hasn\u2019t been running water for over a month, and King uses a bedpan as cerebral palsy has made her immobile.<\/p>\n

The gaping hole in the floorboards that shows the basement, the exposed window frame where \u200cpink insulation \u2060peeks through and a crooked porch are the lowest on her list of priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was having to hold myself back from tears,\u201d Kubik said as he walked back to his car.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Pressure nationwide<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Focus: Hope now delivers 1,300 monthly food boxes to low-income seniors, up from 800 at the start of the year, as rising gas prices make it harder for them to reach food distribution points.<\/p>\n

Food pantries across the nation are feeling the strain.<\/p>\n

In California, Central California Food Bank co-CEO Kym Dildine said the food bank\u2019s spending on diesel rose 61% from July through September, compared to the same period a \u200byear ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat equates to about a quarter \u200bmillion meals that we could have provided \u2060in the community now being redirected to fuel costs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The food bank is the largest hunger relief organisation in the region and provides food to charities that feed more than 300,000 people every month.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur donors also are being pinched at the pump. Food banks rely on $25 to $250 donations, and \u200bit\u2019s those donors who are being most impacted by escalating fuel prices,\u201d said Dildine.<\/p>\n

At the same time, retailers who previously may have covered \u200btransportation expenses for the food \u2060they donate are now either sharing the cost or asking food banks to shoulder it, she said.<\/p>\n

The Greater Chicago Food Depository, one of the city\u2019s largest food banks, is shifting toward providing cheaper foods, such as eggs, to offset rising fuel costs that are straining its own budget, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Cuts to government benefits for lower-income households have added yet another strain to food banks and the hungry.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, more than 4.7 \u2060million people<\/a> have \u200blost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps, since President Donald Trump\u2019s signature tax and \u200bspending law took effect last year.<\/p>\n

Jona Berry, an 84-year-old retired store clerk in Detroit who also received a food box from Focus: Hope, said the boxes have helped her get by on her fixed income as groceries get more expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI manage,\u201d \u200bshe said. \u201cI know how to stretch stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A neatly packed cardboard box of pasta, dry beans, canned goods and powdered milk made Tonya King cry. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for this,\u201d said King, a 65-year-old Detroit \u200bgrandmother, her voice cracking while tears streamed down her face. \u201cFinally, my daughter called me and said, \u2018he\u2019s coming.\u2019\u201c King had been waiting for Frank Kubik, a director at \u200cthe Focus: Hope nonprofit food program, who arrived with the box of food that will feed her household of six for two weeks. The food bank caters mostly to lower-income seniors on fixed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}