state\u2019s average<\/a>, as of Monday, was $3.83 per gallon, which is still 77 cents more than what people paid a year ago, according to AAA data.<\/p>\nThe uptick in gas prices can also make the price of other goods higher because it costs more money to ship those items, according to Allan Drazen, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland. This includes food, which has seen a 3.1% national cost increase in the past year, according to the BLS.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we look at the price of food, the price of energy matters, supply chain disruptions matter,\u201d Drazen said. \u201cThere are a number of things that tend to have an effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meg Kimmel is the president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, a nonprofit organization that supplies food to about 760 local food banks and pantries throughout the state for them to distribute.<\/p>\n
While she said her larger organization has been able to absorb the higher costs of goods, higher prices in things like gas and utilities, in addition to food, have made it harder for more local pantries to afford to distribute the same quantities to their communities.<\/p>\n
South County Assistance Network, based in Anne Arundel County, distributes food to individual families once every 30 days to help ease the load of food costs. Pat Youngman, the president of the organization\u2019s board of directors, said she is seeing her clients need \u201csignificantly\u201d more help getting food on the table.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the organization distributed food to 371 families, she said. This year, it has taken on 47 new families.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re definitely seeing more families struggle,\u201d Youngman said, \u201cThey comment about the price of food and how difficult it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel said she anticipates more people will be seeking out food assistance, often for the first time, as prices rise. As inflation continues, some families will have to make difficult choices on how to spend their money, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the part that is often challenging for families,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cThey find themselves needing to make those trade-offs and to make those choices and decisions they have to make. Do I pay the utility bill, or do I put food on the table? Do I pay for my kids\u2019 field trip and haircut, or do I put food on the table?\u201d<\/p>\n
The true challenge with the rise in inflation is that wages are not being adjusted for the high cost, according to Meyer. To ease the burden, he said state lawmakers can advocate for increasing the state\u2019s minimum wage to keep up with prices and support collective bargaining.<\/p>\n
As more people are relying on public assistance, Meyer said state lawmakers should use the state budget to invest in things like public transportation and affordable housing and childcare.<\/p>\n
Despite this, he said, federal government actions, like ending the war in Iran and repealing cuts to things like Medicaid and federal food assistance, will likely contribute to the most significant improvements in affordability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inflation surged last month to the highest rate in more than three years, driving up the costs of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101,81439,14664,29429,2402,304876,304877,1341,304878,14444],"class_list":["post-706082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-food-bank","tag-food-prices","tag-gas-prices","tag-inflation","tag-maryland-families","tag-maryland-food-bank","tag-medicaid","tag-meg-kimmel","tag-wages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}