NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — High grocery prices are causing even more Tennessee families to struggle putting food on the table according to a new Vanderbilt Child Health Poll.
It's something that doctors are calling alarming for the health of Tennessee children.
Of the parents surveyed across the state, 70 percent said they've had to change their spending habits because of higher prices. Of that 70 percent, almost 30 percent said they changed their spending in part by skipping meals.
During the pandemic, Congress acted to provide additional support for families but now that the support has ended families are struggling to afford enough food.
The Nashville Food Project grows, cooks and shares meals all for free with community partners for families and people in need.
The kitchen stays busy and feeding the need is far greater than years before.
"We don't see it directly, but we see it in the requests they're making from us. So, you know, the partners across the city have seen this, food banks across the city have seen this. We get calls every day even though we're not a food bank people do call us for food and of course we don't turn anybody away, " said CEO C.J Sentell.
Sentell says they're trying to change this by cooking fresh meals, building more community gardens and working with grocery stores.
"We rescue food and if we can't use it, we're sharing it out with our partners every day. So, we're trying to take the abundance that is already here and get it to the people who need it."
There's no one size fits all to ending hunger, but Sentell says there are solutions.
"We think that by coming together and building community relationships and community ties, that's the way we're going to overcome this problem."
The poll also found 40 percent of families reported low or very low food security, an almost 10 percent increase from 2021. Experts said it's leading to a range of other long-term physical and mental health issues for children including obesity, diabetes, anxiety and depression.
Despite the increase in reported low food security and change in food spending habits, more than 50 percent of all parents said they didn't receive any type of assistance over the last week or the last 12 months.
Doctors are saying this should be a call to action for major change in the state because this is a solvable problem and no child should go hungry.
