Samaritan House gears up for holiday season

But securing enough turkeys between this year and last year has been particularly challenging. The increased cost of groceries means food donations are down, Samaritan House CEO Laura Bent said.

“Many of the donations come from the food bank or also grocery rescue organizations … which is how we supplement a lot of the food,” she said. “The actual donations to Samaritan House in terms of food have been down this year, a lot in the protein area because protein has gone up in price, so it’s more complicated to get that kind of a donation.”

The Samaritan House, which serves tens of thousands of clients, partners with several organizations, including grocery stores, to secure goods. The groceries are critical not just for holiday events, but throughout the year. The nonprofit runs via several food-related programs, like pantries and mobile programs for seniors and the disabled.

“It’s harder for folks to donate when prices go up, and it’s certainly harder for our clients to afford them when they’re at that price. Our clients are typically making less than $60,000 a year and just to live as a single person to survive in this county, you need to make $100,000 or more,” Bent said.

But as consumers buy less meat, grocery chains tend to stock less of it, meaning donations go down, she said. Traditional grocery’s share of meat sales dropped by several percentage points between 2019 and 2023, and recently, shoppers have tended to buy meat less frequently and in smaller quantities, according to a Meat Institute report.

The pandemic was certainly difficult for many of the county’s most vulnerable residents, but the increased demand was also met with heightened donations.

“Now, demand is still up, but donations are down and funding is down,” Bent said.

The nonprofit’s mobile program went from serving about 50 people a day to more than 100, for instance.

The unfavorable trend is indicative of COVID-19’s prolonged impact, even for nonfood related necessities. Bent said with the eviction moratorium lifting in 2022, the nonprofit saw application increases well after the pandemic.

“The moratorium helped a lot of people stabilize their rental costs. As soon as that went away, landlords started to increase prices and there were no more protections,” Bent said. “In terms of requests, we’re up 30%, so we’re seeing more than ever, an astronomical number of applications come in for emergency rental assistance but everybody thinks the crisis is over, so the amount of rental assistance available is less than it was during the pandemic.”