The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is seeing more people in need than ever, but fewer food donations to provide assistance.

CEO Melissa Blevins says 1 in 6 people in the Chattanooga area are food insecure and they average around 3,500 people a month requesting food.

Belvins says last year they averaged feeding around 1,000 people per month. Now, the number requesting food has more than doubled, rising to 3,500.

"The demand that we're seeing currently is higher than we've ever in the history of the food bank seen even at the peak of the pandemic. And what we're recognizing are the inflationary pressures that we're having today at the grocery store, and the gas pumps, and everything is costing more, forcing more working families, more seniors to access charitable food programs," says Belvins.

They believe that many people are in need due to food prices increasing on the store shelves.

Second Harvest says donations statewide to food banks are down around 1.7 million pounds and price increases of up to 45 percent are causing food banks to have less food.

Because there is a significant decrease in donations and how much food they can provide for Christmas this year, Belvins says they have had to purchase food to meet the demand.

"When donations of food go down, we have to buy more food," says Belvins.

And with price jumps on some products of 45%, the bank's resources are stretched thin.

"The value of our dollar spending ability with $1 is much lower than it was even a year ago," says Belvins.

Ultimately, Belvins is concerned they are having to spend more and get less in return.

Despite the challenges, the food bank still has around 3 million pounds of food for the holidays.

The Chattanooga Area Food Bank also says the number of volunteers has increased. They say their top priority is that they have enough food to give out.

"It's a pleasure to come out here and get some of these items that we can't afford. Because the budget is so tight, just going in and getting the milk, eggs, potato chips," says Tara May, a food bank customer.

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