DETROIT – While many people are preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner, there is a growing number of people who are worried about every meal -- every single day. It’s not about a one-time Thanksgiving turkey giveaway -- it’s about chronic food insecurity and uncertainty. Gleaners Food Bank, which has numerous programs and partners to feed families, has seen exponential growth by about 50,000 people every month. Boy Scouts help Ann Arbor food drive set single-day collection recordMembers of Boy Scout Troop 27 of St. Francis Parish helped the St. Francis Parish Food Drive break its single-day collection record on Saturday. According to event coordinator and Troop 27 alumnus Zach Damon, Troop 27 collected 591 bags and boxes of food and personal items -- enough to help over 100 local families.

This year, after taking over the duties of feeding the community on Detroit’s East side when a nearby food bank shut down, the Sisters went into high gear -- bread, cereal, non-perishables, but fell short on produce.

ANN ARBOR Even before school closures and stay-at-home orders were issued in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, four out of 10 low-income Americans were struggling with food insecurity, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. Julia Wolfson and Cindy Leung of the U-M School of Public Health have been measuring household food insecurity by using data from a mid-March survey of low-income adults across the country. According to their study, 44% of low-income adults in the country are food insecure, 20% experience marginal food security and 36% reported being food secure. Food is a core determinant of health and food insecurity is associated with numerous poor health outcomes, Leung, assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the School of Public Health, said in a statement. This study highlights the growing number of families facing food insecurity in the wake of COVID-19 who need additional support with food, finances, and child care.U-Ms Poverty Solutions Initiative funded the study.