A woman who prefers to go only by the name Bonnie says she has spent her whole life in Kansas City. Bonnie, who identifies as a senior citizen, has a home and an income. But she has become a regular at the One City Cafe, which offers free lunches and dinners to people in need. It's operated by the Bishop Sullivan Center, a social service agency in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri.
“This is a place where I get my dietary needs," Bonnie said, sitting at one of many round tables accommodating about 200 others who’ve come this winter day to eat lunch. "The meals have all four food groups, including dessert."
Bishop Sullivan administrators say demand for free meals is 24% higher this year than it was in 2023. They also saw an 18% rise in the number of people shopping at their food pantry. These numbers reflect a national trend: The United States Department of Agriculture reports that households experiencing food insecurity — when every member of the household does not have access to enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle — rose significantly between 2022 and 2023. As a result, nonprofits that serve people in need of food are looking for more creative ways to serve their clientele.
Most of the patrons at One City Cafe are unhoused. But more and more, the agency is seeing people like Bonnie, who have homes and jobs, but find themselves needing supplemental meals because of high prices at the grocery store.
“Even places like Aldi, known for affordable food, have increased their prices,” Bonnie said. “I’m on a fixed budget. I go to the store, but there better be a bargain.”
Bishop Sullivan Center’s executive director Michelle Carlstedt said she regularly talks to patrons who say they find themselves having to decide whether to buy medicine or food, because they can’t afford both. In the first 10 months of 2024, Carlstedt said the center served over 73,000 free meals. That’s an increase of 24% over 2023. The center's food pantry provided supplies for 8,000 meals — an 18% rise over 2023.
“Three years ago, we were not conducting many food drives,” Carlstedt said. “Now we conduct food drives every month.”
Higher food prices are only one reason for the increased demand, said Hannah Brockway, Bishop Sullivan’s outreach and volunteer director. Many people had COVID-19 relief funds which have since dried up.
“This time last year, people were getting $100 to $600 in subsidized groceries per month,” she said. “Now they’re forced to choose between medicine and food.”
Increasing inventory through food rescue
Much of Bishop Sullivan’s inventory comes from Harvesters Community Food Network, part of Feeding America, a network of food banks across the country.
Harvesters provides food to more than 900 agencies in western Missouri and eastern Kansas. According to agency data, one in eight adults is experiencing food insecurity in the region. Among children, the number is one in six.
For the last 10 years, Harvesters has been seeking to expand its inventory by addressing food waste. According to Feeding America, the United States wastes 92 billion pounds of food annually, which experts say would be enough for nearly 145 billion meals.
Much food waste comes from the food industry itself — from food wholesalers and grocery stores. Harvesters’ Grocery Recovery Program has worked with 300 grocery chains across 27 counties. Just last year they reported rescuing 6.6 million pounds of food, said Elizabeth Keever, chief resource officer with Harvesters. That's a 73% increase over last year.
Harvesters also partners with farmers in the area.
"We work with a lot of local farms to make sure that no food is going wasted ... out in the fields," said Keever, "and making sure the food grown here in Kansas City stays in Kansas City."
She went on to say that even with these successes, the growing demand remains a challenge. “There is still a lot of work to be done.”
Learning to grow your own food
Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG) is not only providing food from its network of 738 volunteer-run gardens across the metro, it is also teaching people how to grow their own food.
Executive director Jennifer Meyer said the mission of the agency is to introduce free and healthy food options.
“In 2024, 48,000 households harvested directly from a garden or orchard KCCG supported,” she said. Maybe more importantly, she said, thousands more were able to take advantage of KCCG-grown foods that were donated to local food pantries and feeding centers.
Myers said the biggest limitation to their work is funding. Without funding, they can’t provide tools, education or seeds to expand their gardens. Also, she said KCCG is limited in the food it can provide by the simple fact that the outdoor growing season in this part of the country is not year round. The organization uses the down time, she said, to make repairs and improve facilities for the coming year.
Back at One City Cafe, Bonnie was getting ready to leave after lunch. As she got up, she called Bishop Sullivan Place and other community feeding resources "a Godsend." She said the face of hunger in our communities is changing. You may not realize, she said, someone close to you might be needing a free meal.
"They are your neighbors, they are my neighbors. It is literally all of Kansas City, all walks of life, all races and genders that are struggling."
