DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — The need for food assistance is growing across the Miami Valley as families deal with record high inflation and rising food prices.

Nicole Adkins is the Executive Director of With God’s Grace. She said they are serving close to 100 families a day at the Free Grocery Store.

“We’re just seeing each of our mobile locations increasing. And then we’ve seen that people that are in the Free Store to make the appointment to be a first time client is increasing, too,” Adkins said.

Adkins said they are trying to keep up with the demand. She said the demand will only grow as people lose their emergency SNAP benefits.

“That’s something that now we’re trying to work on, how we’re going to be able to help them navigate through the system because they got so used to that extra benefit, and with the food crisis and with inflation, that was their norm and they got dependent on it,” Adkins said.

People receiving SNAP benefits are no longer getting the emergency benefits that went into effect during the COVID-19 pandemic. That means people will lose close to $100 a month.

Adkins said she is now working with donors and partner agencies to help fill the gap and keep the Free Grocery Store stocked.

The Foodbank Inc. has also seen an increase in need. Amber Wright is the Development Coordinator.

“We’ve been serving around 400 families at our weekly drive thru that’s on site, and the numbers are incredibly higher if you count all of the families that are utilizing the services of our partner agencies that we acquire and distribute food for,” Wright explained.

While The Foodbank deals with its own challenges because of inflation, it is also working to make it easier for people to get help. Wright said they hired a SNAP coordinator and they are in the process of setting up an online tool for people to locate distribution sites in their neighborhoods.

“Already our work has been impacted by inflation, in just about every area. It’s getting harder to source food. It’s more expensive to run our truck fleet and it’s more costly to make food purchases. But fortunately, our team has a lot of talent and dedication on it, so we’ve been able to mitigate these challenges and we are able to provide food for anyone needing assistance after these cuts,” Wright said.

To make an appointment to visit the Free Grocery Store or to find out the mobile locations for With God’s Grace, click here. To learn more about distribution times for the The Foodbank, click here.