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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Indiana Food Banks Preparing to Upgrade, Expand

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Friday, June 18, 2021   

INDIANAPOLIS -- Food banks across Indiana are prepping to make good use of a million dollars in funding over the next fiscal year; money that starts rolling in by mid-July.

The Legislature increased funding from $300,000 per year, after hunger shot through the roof during the pandemic.

Emily Weikert Bryant, executive director of Feeding Indiana's Hungry, said millions of people nationwide are still struggling.

"We know for the month of April that the need and the pounds being distributed was about 45% above what an average month would have been in 2019," Weikert Bryant recounted. "So we're still seeing above-average demand. We're still helping folks who are still working to make ends meet."

Weikert Bryant recalled during the lockdowns, cars snaked around the block at many food banks as people picked up pre-boxed food. And many food banks had to rent cold storage to keep perishable donations safe, and even buy food outright to meet the demand.

Jennifer Buell, assistant agency director for Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank, said they saw a 16% increase in clientele in 2020, compared with the year before. And they estimate 25% of the children within their service area are food insecure, day after day.

"That's over and over and over again," Buell emphasized. "And for children, that's affecting both their physical and their cognitive development. And those delays that you see in childhood because of food insecurity can actually last an entire lifetime."

Advocates contended the increased funding will help food banks modernize and expand their facilities, so they can continue to combat hunger in the state.

Disclosure: Feeding Indiana’s Hungry contributes to our fund for reporting on Hunger/Food/Nutrition. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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