Arlingtonians line up at AFAC for their holiday chickens on Nov. 17.
This year families with limited financial resources are lining up on the sidewalk at the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) for their Thanksgiving chicken instead of the usual holiday turkey. Charlie Meng, CEO of AFAC, says that turkeys for the almost 3,700 families served weekly were going to cost $125,000 compared to the cost of chickens at $25,000. And that was a price negotiated last spring. “I can’t imagine what they would cost now.”
Not only is the cost of food escalating but the number of families served has skyrocketed.
And last year AFAC was serving 2,500 families at this same time of the year. So not only is the cost of food escalating but the number of families served has skyrocketed. Meng says,“Today alone we served 308 families at our Nelson Street location and we have 15 other distribution sites. We’re adding 50-100 new families every month.”
Meng continued that last year he spent $1.3 million on food purchases and overran his food budget by $600,000. “I’m looking at another one million overspending this year.” He explains it takes $10 million to run the AFAC program, and the County only contributes $606,000 which is about 7 percent.
Despite the absence of turkeys this year, AFAC recipients will be able to take home the usual produce, milk, eggs and bread for their holiday dinners.
“This is the thing. Prices are up, and the economy is bad.” Meng says the economy has led to an increase in food prices of twenty percent. “These families can’t recover. You and I can make it up but they can’t.”