{"id":391350,"date":"2026-07-30T00:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T00:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/391350\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T00:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T00:58:34","slug":"san-antonio-food-bank-sees-growing-demand-new-study-shows-1-in-5-people-food-insecure-in-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/391350\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio Food Bank sees growing demand; New study shows 1 in 5 people food insecure in region"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A new Feeding America study<\/a> using 2024 data showed about 21% of the San Antonio Food Bank\u2019s 29-county service region is food insecure, up from 17% in the year before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, a single grandparent raising six kids,\u201d said Roberto Font.<\/p>\n

Font relies on the San Antonio Food Bank twice a month, loading up his van with healthy food for his grandkids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get vegetables, you get the meats, you get the starch, you get the fruit. So everything that the children need,\u201d Font said.<\/p>\n

He has to lean more on the food bank now since federal policy changes slashed his SNAP benefits about four months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was getting about $1,400 a month. Now I only get $400 and change a month for six kids,\u201d Font said. \u201dIt\u2019s not enough. I have to make ends meet.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Feeding America study released Tuesday shows Font is one of 629,590 people in the Southwest Texas region labeled food insecure.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 1 in 5 people, up from 1 in 6 the year before. The hardest part to see is that when it comes to kids alone, it\u2019s 1 in 4.<\/p>\n

The study webpage has an interactive map<\/a> that lets users scroll over any county in the nation to see food insecurity information, including the cost of food or the cost of a meal in each community.<\/p>\n

Eric Cooper, CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, emphasized that these numbers are from 2024 and said things have changed a lot even since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve experienced \u201925, and I\u2019m currently experiencing \u201926, and the line is just getting longer,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cThese SNAP cuts hit in \u201926, and we\u2019re seeing the effects of more people in our line.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said low wages and the high cost of food, fuel, and rent are squeezing the small salary people can bring in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only strategy we can invoke is kind of rationing,\u201d Cooper said. \u201dWe try to spread what we have over that demand. Any gains we have or increased support allows us to better nourish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s message to lawmakers and community leaders is that safety net programs need more help, not less.<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal safety net programs like SNAP, National School Lunch Program, WIC, they\u2019re all critical programs,\u201d he said. \u201dThe charitable safety net at the food bank, we\u2019re trying to make up the difference, but that gap is getting larger.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cooper said it will take everyone\u2019s support to keep food on the table for families like Font\u2019s, but they will never turn people away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like no matter how many more people need it, they\u2019re always there. They keep getting it,\u201d Font said. \u201dI think it\u2019s more about all the people that are donating, making it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Font is not working or taking care of the children, he volunteers his time at the food bank to help others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m being blessed through the food bank or other places, it\u2019s my responsibility to try to help someone else get that same support,\u201d Font said.<\/p>\n

Font encourages people to set aside pride if their family is hungry and utilize the food bank services.<\/p>\n

Anyone who needs food assistance can go to the San Antonio Food Bank website<\/a> or call the helpline at 210-431-8326. People who can donate time or money can also find ways to do that on the food bank website.<\/p>\n

Read also: <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 A new Feeding America study using 2024 data showed about 21% of the San Antonio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,6246,8330,82,8332,84,83],"class_list":["post-391350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-food","tag-food-insecurity","tag-hunger","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-food-bank","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}